President Xi Jinping meets with business leaders from around the world at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Thursday. He emphasized China's plans to broaden market access and expand imports. (XU JINGXING / CHINA DAILY)
Market access, imports to grow, CEOs assured
President Xi Jinping pledged on Thursday to continue to broaden market access and expand imports amid the country's efforts to pursue a higher quality of openness.
Xi made the remark while meeting with global business leaders gathering to attend a roundtable meeting to discuss openness and win-win cooperation at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up, and all the business leaders at the meeting have participated in, witnessed, contributed to and benefited from the Chinese policy, Xi said.
Foreign capital has played an important and positive role in the process of reform and opening-up, Xi said, adding that China's door will not close, but open wider and wider.
China will continue to ease restrictions on market access, create a more attractive environment for investment, take more measures to protect intellectual property and establish an easier and more orderly environment for domestic and foreign investors, Xi said.
In the past four decades, China has experienced great changes, with its economy growing rapidly and over 700 million people lifted out of poverty by the standards of the United Nations, Xi said. Opening-up has been the key to China's development, he said.
Xi said the global economy still lacks driving forces and trade protectionism has risen. The international community is a global village, and countries should not engage in zero-sum games, he said.
The president said international rules should be jointly written by all countries, and the fruits of development should be shared by all.
China would like to work with other countries to build a community with a shared future for mankind, Xi said.
The Belt and Road Initiative, put forward five years ago, has benefited the people of countries along the routes, Xi said, adding that the initiative is not a solo performance by a single country but a symphony of all those nations.
The president said China encourages international companies to cooperate with Chinese enterprises to achieve win-win outcomes.
In his speech, Xi also highlighted the importance of innovation-driven development and green development.
Economic globalization has made important contributions to the world economy's development, and it has become an irreversible historical trend, Xi said.
China will continue to play the role of a responsible major country, proactively participate in the reform and construction of the global governance system, and inject Chinese power to the reform of the global governance system, Xi said.
The international community should take a path of reform, opening-up, innovation and development rather than a backward way of stubbornness, protectionism and unilateralism, Xi added.
The business leaders spoke highly of China's achievements in reform and opening-up, and they appreciated China's contribution to global economic growth. They appreciated China's efforts to support economic globalization and oppose trade protectionism.
