Opening-up is basic State policy

China will pursue opening-up on larger scale and scope and at greater depth, Sun Yeli, a spokesman for the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, said on Saturday.

Sun said at a news conference that opening-up is a basic State policy of the nation, and no matter how the world may change, China's resolve and will to open up will remain firm.

China has been accelerating its pace in opening-up in recent years, Sun said, and has advanced the Belt and Road Initiative, signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a free trade pact signed by 15 Asia-Pacific economies, and is seeking membership in multiple multilateral trade agreements.

The nation has successfully held the China International Import Expo for four successive years, in an effort to proactively open its market to the rest of the world, he said, and has set up 21 pilot free trade zones. It has also downsized the items on the national and FTZ negative lists for foreign investment respectively to 31 and 27, while removing the items restricted for the manufacturing sector on the FTZ negative list for foreign investment, he said.

Sun said China's pursuit of building the new dual-circulation development paradigm — which takes the domestic market as the mainstay and lets the domestic and foreign markets reinforce each other — does not mean China will exclusively focus on domestic circulation and scale back its opening-up.

Building the new development paradigm is a momentous decision based on the changes in China's development stage, environment and conditions, and, in particular, considering the changes in China's comparative advantage. It will generate lasting momentum for the Chinese economy in the long run and for the global economic stability and recovery as well, he said.

The new development paradigm features open circulation, rather than a closed domestic circulation, and taking domestic circulation as the mainstay doesn't mean seeking development behind closed doors, he said.

Instead, by unlocking the potential of domestic demand, China can better link up domestic and international markets, he said, adding that high-level opening-up is an inherent feature of the new development paradigm.