Xi urges open regional economy
President vows to speed up efforts, foster new drivers for development
President Xi Jinping called on members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation to advance regional integration so as to build an open economy in the region.
He also reaffirmed that China will continue to open up by significantly expanding market access, better protecting intellectual property rights, and making the investment and business environments more attractive.
Xi made the remarks in a speech on Sunday delivered at the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
“We have reached a crossroads of history when we must have a keen appreciation of global trends and take the pulse of the world economy,” he said.
APEC members should continue to promote trade and investment liberalization, although the road to a Free Trade Area for the Asia-Pacific will not be smooth, Xi said.
The global economic environment is fraught with risks, and uncertainties such as protectionism and unilateralism are resurfacing. This puts the multilateral trading system under assault, the president said.
“We need to firmly uphold the rules-based multilateral trading system and say no to protectionism,” he said, noting that efforts should be undertaken to make economic globalization more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial for all.
As this year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up, Xi said China will pursue continued reforms with resolve across the board.
“We will speed up efforts to improve our socialist market economy and put in place a modern economic system,” he said.
The first China International Import Expo, which concluded in Shanghai earlier this month, attracted more than 3,600 companies and over 400,000 Chinese and foreign buyers who sealed $57.8 billion worth of deals.
“This sent one more message about China’s strong commitment to free and open trade, and to voluntarily opening its market to the world,” Xi said.
The president also called for efforts to pursue innovationdriven growth and foster new growth drivers, improve connectivity to promote inclusive development, forge closer partnerships and jointly meet common challenges.
He said China seeks deeper cooperation in the digital economy sector with other members of the Asia-Pacific region so as to expand convergence of interests and create more growth areas, thus adding strong and fresh impetus to the region’s economy.
“The important proposals Xi has raised in his speeches during the APEC meetings conform to the trend of the global economy and the development of global economic governance,” said Wang Xiaolong, director-general of the Department of Economic Affairs with the Foreign Ministry.
“They also meet the common aspiration of the international community and peoples in the Asia-Pacific region, and reflect the strategic horizon and guiding role of the leader of a major country,” he said.
Zhang Shaogang, directorgeneral of the International Department with the Ministry of Commerce, said at a press briefing that China and most APEC members are jointly sending out a positive signal of supporting free trade, a multilateral trading system and economic globalization.
“This has injected positive impetus for strengthening international cooperation on trade and the economy at a time when the voices of protectionism and unilateralism are rising,” he said.
On Sunday, Xi also attended an informal dialogue meeting on the world’s economic situation with leaders of APEC economies, during which he listened to the introduction made by International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde.
Thanks to their embracing of free trade and investment facilitation, the 21 APEC members, which include the world’s most robust growth engines, now account for 60 percent of the global GDP and 47 percent of global trade. But the commitment of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation members to their 1994 agreement to pursue the reducing barriers to trade and investment and promote the free flow of goods, services and capital — the Bogor Goals that have facilitated the region’s dynamism — has never been tested as much as it is today, with the beggar-thyneighbor approach of unilateralism gumming up the works like sugared gasoline.
Although supposedly flying the flag for a rules-based region, the petulant me-first mentality on display at the 26th Economic Leaders’ Summit in Papua New Guinea was again a disruptive presence seeking to subvert efforts to foster a greater sense of community and shared development.
President Xi Jinping’s speech at the summit on Sunday was a strong rallying call for countries to stand together and reject the take-what-you-can approach in favor of regional integration that promotes an open and rule-abiding economy in the Asia-Pacific.
It was a call for action to embody the feeling he evoked in his speech at the APEC CEO Summit on board the cruise ship Pacific Explorer on Saturday. “I was looking at the vast ocean when I boarded the ship,” he said, “and it struck me that we are all indeed fellow passengers in the same boat.” He encouraged those present to make the right choice — which is not between following this country or that country — but rather between cooperation and confrontation, openness and closing one’s door, win-win progress or a zero-sum game.
The choice facing the region and the world is a stark one: One path leads to progress, the other is a self- and all-defeating choice that leads back to the faultlines of the past.
Leaders in the region share a common responsibility to chart a peaceful and long-term development course for Asia-Pacific, as it enters its digital future.
The APEC leaders should continue to uphold a rules-based region and work to sustain the momentum of Asia-Pacific cooperation.
By forging closer relationships and jointly meeting common challenges, the APEC members have remained true to the shared goal of common development while respecting diversity and each other’s choices of development path. By continuing to do so, they can draw up a post-2020 roadmap and advance the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, which will help realize a regional community with a shared future.