China advocates inclusive and beneficial-to-all principles in global governance
Amajor advocate of the post-WWII international rules-based system, the United States has long been considered a beacon of free trade. However, since Donald Trump took office, the country’s policy has quickly shifted to trade protectionism — with accusations against countries around the world that amount to typical trade bullying.
China-US trade ties were the first target. On July 6, the US launched 25-percent tariff on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods, firing the first shot of the largest trade war in the economic history. To defend its legitimate rights and interests, China was forced to strike back. China and the US are the two largest economies in the world, and their trade conflict has inevitably drawn attention worldwide. The US’s trade bullying has increased market uncertainty, undermined the rules-based international order, and dealt a heavy blow to hard-won confidence born of global economic recovery.
In recent years, China’s image as a responsible major country has gradually improved and gained wide recognition. Since its entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, China has earnestly fulfilled its WTO obligations while continuously opening wider to the outside world. By 2010, it had fulfilled its tariff-cutting promises for WTO membership by slashing overall tariff levels from 15.3 percent in 2001 to 9.8 percent. With China’s free trade zones included, the country’s tradeweighted average tariff rate is only 4.4 percent, which is close to the level of developed countries. To further open its market, China has constantly lowered tariffs on the imports of daily consumer goods since 2015. This May, it announced a decision to drastically lower tariffs on 70 percent of imports of daily consumer goods at an average rate up to 55.9 percent. Not only will this move benefit domestic consumers, it also sends a positive signal to the international community against the backdrop of rising protectionism.
In the field of services trade, China has gradually opened its financial, telecommunication, insurance and securities markets. In the intellectual property rights (IPR) area, it has amended related laws in line with the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and other IPR-related international regulations and taken proactive measures to enhance enforcement of IPR laws. In 2014, the State Council promulgated relative provisions to ensure China’s trade policies comply with WTO Agreement and subsequent agreements. Meanwhile, the country has lowered its market access threshold for foreign investment by a big margin. In 2013, the newlyestablished Shanghai Free Trade Zone published its first negative list, which included 190 special regulatory measures. By 2016, the number of Chinese free trade zones rose to 11 and the country’s foreign investment negative list was shortened to 95 items. A foreign investment management system based on the negative list will be adopted nationwide later this year, and market access for foreign capital is expected to be further expanded. With a constantly improving investment environment, China has become one of the most attractive destinations for foreign direct investment.
This century, the world economy has remained fragile and uneven, resulting in exacerbation of the NorthSouth problem and widening of the gap between rich and poor. Inspired by an aim of common prosperity, in 2010, China granted zero-tariff status to some categories of commodities imported from 33 of the world’s least developed countries, including Ethiopia. And in 2013, China’s General Administration of Customs announced zero-tariff status to 95 percent of imports from Ethiopia and other least developed countries that have established diplomatic relations with China, including “Belt and Road” countries such as Afghanistan, Cambodia and Myanmar. China adheres to inclusive, sharing and beneficial-to-all principles in global governance, aiming to contribute “Chinese wisdom” to solving deeprooted problems such as peace deficit, development deficit and global governance deficits while building a community with a shared future for humanity through innovative development and win-win cooperation.
China’s growth has benefited the rest of the world tremendously, and its steady economic development has served as a major engine driving the global economic recovery and stabilizing global trade. Since 2009, China has remained the largest exporting country of goods, the second-largest importing country in the world for nine consecutive years, and the largest trade partner of more than 120 countries and regions. As industrialization and urbanization accelerate in China, domestic demand has continuously grown, and the ever-expanding market evidences tremendous consumption and investment potential. An increasing volume of goods and services from around the world has been attracted to the Chinese market. After the global financial crisis broke out, developed economies’ growth began to slow while developing economies saw a downturn. China worked to stabilize its exports while actively expanding imports. Statistics show that in recent years, China’s contribution to the growth of the world economy has exceeded 30 percent, surpassing the total of America, Europe and Japan and providing vigorous impetus for the development of an open global economy. From 2013 to 2016, the annual growth rate of the Chinese economy averaged 7.2 percent, far higher than the global average. As developed economies struggled with sluggish growth, the Chinese economy fluctuated within a range of only 0.1 percent. Clearly, China’s steady economic development has played a vital role in minimizing the risks of global economic fluctuation and stabilizing international trade.
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