DAVOS (XINHUA) - China will open its door even wider to the world, Chinese Vice-Premier Han Zheng said on Tuesday (Jan 21).
Despite the protectionist and unilateral moves by some countries, China will not stop pushing for higher-quality opening up, he said in a special address at the 50th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Mr Han, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that China will not follow those countries' footsteps by moving away from globalisation.
"China will continue to take major steps of reform and opening up to drive economic globalisation, and make new contributions to sustainable global development," he said.
Specifically, Mr Han said China will further widen market access for foreign investors, import more goods and services, improve the business environment, foster new drivers of opening up, and strengthen multilateral and bilateral cooperation.
According to the Chinese vice-premier, China is a beneficiary of economic globalisation, and more importantly, a contributor to sustainable global development.
He said China has become a leading engine of the world economy, contributing around 30 per cent to global growth in recent years.
It has actively implemented the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and played a leading role in international cooperation on climate change, which has made global development more inclusive and sustainable,
By honouring its World Trade Organisation accession commitments on all fronts and promoting trade and investment liberalisation and facilitation, China has provided an important driving force for building an open world economy, he said.
From 2001 to 2018, China's import of goods increased at an annual rate of 13.6 per cent, 6.8 percentage points higher than the global average.
Its huge market has also offered tremendous opportunities for the development of other countries, Mr Han said. From 1978 to 2018, China has attracted over US$2 trillion (S$2.7 trillion) in foreign direct investment in non-financial sectors. Around 490 out of the world's top 500 companies have business operations in China.
All these have contributed to the sustained and sound growth of the Chinese economy, improved the global supply, industrial and value chains, and provided strong support to the world economy, he added.
