VII. Pursuing High-Standard Opening Up
Opening up is a defining feature of Chinese modernization. We must remain committed to the basic state policy of opening to the outside world and continue to promote reform through opening up. Leveraging the strengths of China's enormous market, we will enhance our capacity for opening up while expanding international cooperation and develop new institutions for a higher-standard open economy.
(24) Steadily expanding institutional opening up
We will promote alignment with high-standard international economic and trade rules and harmonize rules, regulations, management, and standards relating to property rights protection, industrial subsidies, environmental standards, labor protection, government procurement, e-commerce, the financial sector, and other areas, in an effort to create an institutional environment that is transparent, stable, and predictable. We will seize the initiative by opening China's commodity, services, capital, and labor markets wider to the outside world in an orderly manner and unilaterally opening our doors wider to the world's least developed countries. We will further reform institutions and mechanisms for foreign aid to realize full-chain management.
We will safeguard the WTO-centered multilateral trading system, actively participate in the reform of global economic governance, and provide more global public goods. We will expand our globally-oriented network of high-standard free trade areas, establish compliance mechanisms that are aligned with prevailing international rules, and optimize the environment for opening up and cooperation.
(25) Deepening the foreign trade structural reform
We will better coordinate trade policies with fiscal, tax, financial, and industrial policies, create a set of systems and policies to support efforts to build China into a strong trading nation, step up reforms to integrate domestic and foreign trade, and actively respond to the trends of digital and green trade. We will develop new regulatory approaches for customs clearance, taxation, and foreign exchange and foster an institutional environment that is conducive to the development of new models and forms of trade. We will develop digital trade in an innovative manner and promote the development of integrated pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce. We will build commodity trading centers and global distribution centers, support various types of entities in developing logistics facilities overseas in a well-ordered way, and facilitate the development of international logistics hubs, as well as hubs for the distribution of commodities and resources, in areas where conditions allow. The mechanisms for preventing and controlling trade risks will be improved, and our export control framework and trade remedy system will be refined.
We will adopt innovative measures to boost trade in services and fully apply the negative list for cross-border trade in services. We will promote comprehensive trials and demonstrations for expanding opening up of the service sector and encourage specialized service organizations to enhance their capacity for providing international services. We will work faster to promote offshore trade and develop new types of transactions in offshore international trade. We will set up sound systems for cross-border financial services and diversify the supply of financial products and services.
(26) Further reforming the management systems for inward and outward investment
We will foster a first-rate business environment that is market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized and protect the rights and interests of foreign investors in accordance with the law. We will expand the catalog of encouraged industries for foreign investment, appropriately shorten the negative list for foreign investment, remove all market access restrictions in the manufacturing sector, and promote wider opening with regard to telecommunications, the internet, education, culture, medical services, and other sectors in a well-conceived way. We will further reform the institutions and mechanisms for promoting foreign investment, ensure national treatment for foreign-funded enterprises in terms of access to factors of production, license application, standards setting, and government procurement, and support them in collaborating with upstream and downstream enterprises in industrial chains. We will improve relevant measures to make it more convenient for people from outside the mainland to live, receive medical services, and make payments on the mainland. We will refine the institutions and mechanisms for promoting and protecting Chinese investment abroad, improve the management and service systems for outward investment, and facilitate international cooperation in industrial and supply chains.
(27) Optimizing the layout for regional opening up
We will consolidate the leading role of eastern coastal areas in our opening up endeavors, promote further opening up in the central, western, and northeastern regions, and move faster toward all-around opening up through links running eastward and westward, across land, and over sea. To leverage the strengths of areas along the coasts, borders, rivers, and major transportation routes, we will optimize the division of functions for opening up among different regions in order to develop a diverse array of pacesetters for opening up. We will implement the strategy for upgrading pilot free trade zones and encourage these zones to engage in pioneering and integrated explorations. The development of the Hainan Free Trade Port will be accelerated.
Harnessing the institutional strengths of the One Country, Two Systems policy, we will work to consolidate and enhance Hong Kong's status as an international financial, shipping, and trade center, support Hong Kong and Macao in building themselves into international hubs for high-caliber talent, and improve relevant mechanisms to see the two regions playing a greater role in China's opening to the outside world. We will encourage cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao in the Greater Bay Area by promoting closer alignment of rules and mechanisms. We will improve relevant institutions and policies to promote economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation across the Taiwan Strait and advance integrated cross-Strait development.
(28) Improving the mechanisms for high-quality cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative
We will continue to implement the Belt and Road Science, Technology, and Innovation Cooperation Action Plan and redouble efforts to develop multilateral platforms for cooperation in green development, the digital economy, artificial intelligence, energy, taxation, finance, disaster mitigation, and other areas. We will work to improve the integrated framework for land, sea, air, and cyberspace connectivity and build a multidimensional network to connect countries along the Belt and Road. We will make coordinated efforts to advance both major signature projects and "small but beautiful" public welfare projects.
