Gaohucheng： From a Big Trading Country to a Powerful Trading Country
On March 2nd, People’s Daily published an article signed by Gao Hucheng, Minister of Commerce, "From a Big Trading Country to a Powerful Trading Country". The full text is as follows:
From a big trading country to a strong trading country
According to the World Trade Organization, in 2013, China’s total import and export of goods was 4.16 trillion US dollars, ranking first in the world in goods trade. This is a major event in the historical process of China’s opening to the outside world, a major achievement of our party leading the people of the whole country to firmly adhere to the basic national policy of opening to the outside world and fully participate in economic globalization, marking another solid step towards the grand goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way. Achievements are hard won, and the road ahead is not smooth. We can’t relax in the slightest. Only by accelerating the transition from a big trading country to a powerful trading country can we better serve the goal of "two hundred years" and realize the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
An important milestone in the development of open economy
A history of trade development is also a history of the rise and fall of a country and a nation. China is one of the earliest countries to develop foreign trade in history, and it still maintained the first position in the world in terms of economic and trade scale until the Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty. In 1840, the west opened the door of the Qing government’s "closed door" with a strong ship and a sharp gun. Since then, China has become a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, and its foreign trade has lost its sovereignty and become a semi-colonial foreign trade. The establishment of New China destroyed the imperialist privilege in China, and the foreign economic and trade dominance returned to the people’s hands, and foreign trade began to make a difficult start. Marked by the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, China has implemented the historic decision of reform and opening up, fully participated in international division of labor and cooperation, actively developed economic and trade exchanges with other countries in the world, and achieved a new historical leap in foreign trade in generate.
China’s foreign trade began in the pre-Qin period, flourished in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and declined in the late Qing Dynasty. After more than 60 years of rapid development since the founding of New China, especially in the 35 years of reform and opening up, China has returned to the first place in the world, creating a miracle in the history of world trade development. For more than 30 years, China’s foreign trade has doubled almost every four years, making it the first developing country to become the world’s largest commodity trading country.
China’s foreign trade has become the most active force to promote economic and social development. From 1978 to 2013, China’s total foreign trade increased from $20.6 billion to $4.16 trillion, with an average annual growth rate of 16.4%. In recent years, the contribution rate of foreign trade to economic growth has reached about 18% on average, which directly and indirectly promoted the employment of 180 million people in China and created 18% of the national tax revenue.
China’s foreign trade really connects the Chinese dream of 1.3 billion people with the world dream of 7 billion people. China is already the largest trading partner of more than 120 countries and regions. From the South Pacific island countries to the African continent, from the eastern end of Eurasia to the two sides of the Atlantic Ocean, the whole world is enjoying high-quality and low-priced goods made in China. The continuous development of foreign trade has made China’s development benefit the world. China can’t live without the world, and the world can’t live without China, which has really become a reality.
Practice has fully proved that China’s foreign trade has embarked on a development path that suits China’s national conditions and conforms to the world trend, and has created a successful example for developing countries to give full play to their late-comer advantages and grow stronger in the tide of economic globalization. The rich practice of China’s foreign trade is realized under the correct leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which constitutes an important part of Socialism with Chinese characteristics Road, embodies the great creation of Socialism with Chinese characteristics Theory, shows the great superiority of Socialism with Chinese characteristics system, condenses the wisdom and sweat of hundreds of millions of China people, spreads the positive energy of China’s reform and opening up to the international community, and strengthens Socialism with Chinese characteristics’s road confidence, theoretical confidence and institutional confidence.
Face up to the difficulties and challenges faced by the current foreign trade development
Being the world’s largest commodity trading country brings us joy, but at the same time, it is more calm and worried. At present, the world and national conditions are undergoing profound changes. Looking at China’s foreign trade comprehensively, there are still many aspects that cannot meet the needs of development in the new period. There is still a long and difficult way to go to become a trading power.
The foundation of innovation and development needs to be strengthened. Innovation is the source of vitality to support the development of foreign trade. The competition in the contemporary international market is basically a struggle for innovation ability. For a long time, China’s products have mainly relied on quantity and price advantages to participate in international competition, and the products lack core competitiveness and low added value. In 2013, the export proportion of China’s electromechanical and high-tech products has reached 57.3% and 29.9%, but the core technologies of many commodities are in the hands of foreign countries. Among them, 61.2% of mechanical and electrical products are produced by foreign-funded enterprises and 51.1% are exported by processing trade; 73% of high-tech products are produced by foreign-funded enterprises, and 65.3% are exported by processing trade.
The development of service trade lags behind. Although China has become a big country in goods trade, the development of service trade is relatively backward. In 2013, the total import and export volume of China’s service trade was 539.64 billion US dollars, only about half of that of the United States. China is a big country with a trade surplus in goods, but it is also the largest country with a trade deficit in services in the world. In 2013, the trade deficit in services reached US$ 118.46 billion. China’s service export structure is not optimized enough, and the proportion of technology-intensive service exports such as finance and insurance is still relatively low.
The trade system and mechanism are still not perfect. Over the years, the state has continuously reformed and improved policies and measures such as export tax rebate, export credit and customs clearance facilitation, and the business environment has generally improved significantly. However, there are many policies and means to encourage exports in one direction, and the two-way regulation mechanism with limited promotion and progress has not been fully established, and there is still a tendency to pursue speed and scale unilaterally. It is an important and urgent task for foreign trade development to construct a trade and investment rule system that conforms to both China’s national conditions and high international standards.
The foreign trade development environment is not optimistic. Externally, the world economy is still in a period of deep adjustment, and generally speaking, it is difficult for the international market demand to return to the stage of sustained high growth before the financial crisis. Domestically, in recent years, China’s labor costs have continued to rise, and the constraints of resources, energy and environment on economic development have intensified. How to form a new advantage in international competition as soon as possible on the basis of consolidating traditional advantages is a major issue that needs to be solved urgently in developing foreign trade.
Pioneering and enterprising, building a trade power
The road to the top is not easy. It is even more difficult to maintain the position of number one in the world. Guided by the spirit of the 18th CPC National Congress and the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, we should focus on cultivating new advantages, aim at improving comprehensive benefits, aim at mutual benefit and win-win, accelerate the adjustment of import and export strategies, realize the transformation from a big trading country to a powerful trading country, and better serve the goal of "two hundred years" and the Chinese dream.
Adhere to the guidance of openness and continue to develop foreign trade. A trading power is the unity of quality and quantity, and quantity is more qualitative, and it is stronger if it is big. Based on the reality of China’s large population and shortage of resources, we should always adhere to the open development thinking, follow the principles of balanced layout, winning by quality, multi-complementarity and multi-point support, and on the basis of maintaining reasonable growth of foreign trade, effectively shift the development goal to quality and efficiency, and pay attention to using two markets and two resources at a higher level.
Implement innovation drive and accelerate the cultivation of new advantages in foreign trade competition. Only sunset products, no sunset industry. It is necessary to speed up the use of modern technology to transform traditional industries, enhance the scientific, technological and fashion connotation of labor-intensive products, and stabilize the international market share of labor-intensive products. Promote the integration of trade, technology and industry, encourage foreign trade enterprises to carry out scientific and technological innovation, business model innovation and trade format innovation, and cultivate new advantages in foreign trade competition with technology, brand, quality and service as the core. Vigorously develop service trade, encourage the export of intellectual and technology-intensive services, and form a good situation of benign interaction and coordinated development of trade in goods and services.
Deepen reform in an all-round way and build a new mechanism for sustainable development of foreign trade. We will improve foreign trade promotion policies that conform to China’s national conditions and international practices and reflect the requirements of foreign trade development in the new period, and establish a quality-oriented trade promotion system. Accelerate the construction of import promotion policy system, clear up unreasonable restrictions on import links, and promote the coordinated development of import and export. Make overall plans to promote the construction of free trade parks (Hong Kong), the negotiation of investment agreements and the revision of foreign-related economic and trade laws and regulations, deepen reforms in the fields of finance, taxation, investment, finance, foreign exchange and circulation, release institutional dividends, and stimulate the vitality of foreign trade entities. We will improve working mechanisms such as anti-monopoly, trade remedy and industrial safety review to safeguard national economic security.
Adhere to mutual benefit and win-win results and actively participate in the formulation of global economic and trade rules. A big country means responsibility and responsibility. In the future, we must go to the forefront of international governance, give play to the influence of the world’s trading powers, and enhance China’s ability to provide public goods to the world and fulfill the responsibilities of big countries. We will continue to regard the multilateral trading system as the main channel to promote the opening of global trade and investment, adhere to trade liberalization in a clear-cut manner, and promote the development of the multilateral trading system in a more balanced, inclusive and win-win direction. Adhere to the principles of openness, inclusiveness and transparency, participate in regional trade cooperation and develop a global free trade network. Improve the global value chain, strengthen the coordination of trade policies, and help developing countries strengthen trade capacity building.
Xiongguan Man Road is as iron as iron, but now it’s a step from the beginning. We firmly believe that under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with the Supreme Leader as the core, and through the unremitting efforts of all personnel on the foreign trade front, the goal of becoming a strong trading country will be realized, and foreign trade will surely write its own magnificent chapter in the process of realizing the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.