From 'negative list' to 'zero tariff treatment'

After the 20th Central Committee's third plenary session, China's two measures for opening up to the outside world have attracted global attention.

Starting from December 1, all least developed countries that have established diplomatic relations with China will receive zero tariff treatment on 100% of tariff items, making China the first developing country and major economy in the world to implement this measure.

Previously, starting from November 1, the new national negative list for foreign investment officially came into effect, reducing the restrictive measures from 31 to 29, with the manufacturing sector being completely opened.

Some analysts believe that as China's door to openness continues to widen, it explains why 'the next China is still China'.

At the opening ceremony of the provincial and ministerial special seminar at the end of October, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that 'we must adhere to the unity of reform and opening up, and steadily expand institutional openness'.

During his recent visit to Latin America, President Xi Jinping announced 'China supports eight actions for global development' and 'China will introduce more independent and unilateral opening-up policies', advocating for 'building a just world for common development' and 'jointly constructing a fair and reasonable global governance system'.

By coordinating the domestic and international situations and balancing openness and security, China is unwavering in its determination to promote high-level opening up.

Reform and opening up is a historical process of common development and progress for China and the world. By continuously providing new opportunities for world development with new achievements of Chinese-style modernization, China is committed to win-win cooperation.

After eight rounds of reductions, the negative list for foreign investment access witnesses China's steady expansion of openness.

In 2013, the Shanghai Free Trade Zone was established, and China's first negative list for foreign investment access was published, containing 190 items.

The first reduction began the following year, with the 'Shanghai Free Trade Zone version' reduced to 139 items, expanding the areas of openness and relaxing access conditions.

In 2015, three free trade zones in Guangdong, Tianjin, and Fujian were established, and the 'four free trade zone version' was reduced to 122 items. This was the second reduction, with complete opening in the processing of agricultural products, alcoholic beverages, and other general manufacturing sectors.

Starting in 2016, the negative list began to transition from the 'four free trade zone version' to the 'national version'. At the same time, the 'Draft Negative List for Market Access (Pilot Version)' was formulated, and the domestic economic governance began to introduce a negative list management model. The promotion of pilot experiences and the elevation of management concepts deepened the meaning of openness.

The third reduction occurred in 2017, with the 'national version' reduced to 63 items, while the free trade zones achieved full coverage of the negative list, reducing to 95 items. The opening in fields such as rail transit equipment manufacturing and pharmaceutical manufacturing deepened.

In 2018, the 'national version' retained only 48 items, and the 'free trade zone version' was reduced to 45 items.

This was the fourth reduction, which was milestone significance—the 'national version' was for the first time separated from the 'Foreign Investment Industry Guidance Catalog' and independently published, while the market access negative list system was fully implemented.

The fifth and sixth reductions occurred in 2019 and 2020, with the 'national version' reduced to 40 and 33 items respectively, and the 'free trade zone version' reduced to 37 and 30 items respectively, accelerating the construction of a more open, convenient, and fair investment environment.

In 2021, the 'national version' and 'free trade zone version' were reduced to 31 and 27 items respectively. This was the seventh reduction, with the manufacturing sector in the free trade zone being completely opened.

In the eighth reduction, the 2024 'national version' removed the remaining two restrictive measures in the manufacturing sector.

Based on practical realities while looking to the long term, the eight reductions reflect an increasing pace of openness and growing confidence in opening up. From this, we can better understand that openness is a distinctive feature of Chinese-style modernization and grasp important principles and methods of governance in the new era, such as maintaining integrity and innovation, and seeking progress while ensuring stability.

Economic globalization is a trend and a major force; Chinese-style modernization cannot be achieved by closing the door. The process of promoting Chinese-style modernization is a process of high-level interaction with the international community.

The higher the level of openness, the greater the role it plays in promoting reform. Promoting deep-level reform and high-quality development through high-level openness is precisely China's strategic consideration.

In the manufacturing sector, China opened up earliest, has the most sufficient market competition, and the closest global industrial division of labor and cooperation, making the 'zeroing' of the negative list an optimal observation window for promoting reform and development through openness.

At the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2018, President Xi Jinping announced that 'we should quickly relax restrictions on foreign investment shareholding, especially in the automotive industry'.

Subsequently, restrictions on foreign investment shareholding were gradually lifted, with 2018 seeing the removal of restrictions for special vehicles and new energy vehicles, 2020 for commercial vehicles, and 2022 for passenger vehicles. After a four-year transition period, China's automotive industry has achieved full openness to foreign investment, ranking first in the world.

In 2023, China's production and sales of new energy vehicles accounted for over 60% of the global total, maintaining the world's top position for nine consecutive years. On November 14 of this year, the annual production of new energy vehicles exceeded 10 million for the first time, with an estimated annual production of 12 million.

Behind the rapid rise of China's new energy vehicle industry is the continuous adaptation and change under the conditions of open competition, accelerating the deep integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation, achieving leading advantages in three major technological fields: batteries, motors, and electronic controls, and establishing a complete and resilient industrial chain and supply chain.

Today, China has created the most complete industrial system in the world, with the scale of manufacturing ranking first globally for 14 consecutive years, forming over 200 mature industrial clusters and 26 global top 100 technology innovation clusters...

The key to Chinese-style modernization lies in technological modernization, and the key to building a strong socialist modern country lies in technological self-reliance and self-improvement.

The reason why the manufacturing sector dares to 'zero out' is that more and more technological fields are accelerating their transition from following and running alongside to leading, which strongly enhances confidence in further expanding openness; it is also due to China's commitment to promoting the high-end, intelligent, and green development of manufacturing, enhancing openness capabilities in expanding international cooperation, and pushing the manufacturing power towards becoming a manufacturing strong country.

The first phase of Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory project was signed in July 2018, began construction in January 2019, and delivered its first vehicle in December.

Tesla's Shanghai energy storage Gigafactory took only one month from negotiation to signing, started construction in May this year, and by the end of September, the main factory construction progress had exceeded 60%.

The approval platform 'One Network for All Services', specialized service teams 'one-stop service', and 'four unifications' for completion acceptance... Behind the 'Tesla speed' is the result of optimizing a first-class business environment characterized by marketization, rule of law, and internationalization.

Creating diverse open highlands, implementing a strategy to enhance free trade pilot zones, and encouraging innovative and integrated exploration, today's reform 'test fields' will become tomorrow's development 'growth poles'.

Open and win-win, mutually beneficial cooperation. In today's world, cooperation and win-win outcomes are essential to accomplish tasks, do good things, and achieve great things.

"We must solidly promote high-level opening up, making good use of global markets and resources to develop ourselves, while also promoting common development for the world," this is China's consistent pursuit of openness.

An open China is a fertile ground for win-win cooperation.

Benin is one of the least developed countries as announced by the United Nations. In September 2023, Benin's pineapples officially gained quarantine access to China, and in November, the first batch of fresh fruits made their debut at the Import Expo, signing a procurement intention worth 60 million USD. Africa's 'sweet bread' achieved the 'fastest export to China' in just two months.

China will improve the system and mechanism for high-level opening up and expand unilateral opening to the least developed countries. This is one of the eight actions China supports for global development. "From now until 2030, China's cumulative imports from developing countries are expected to exceed 8 trillion USD," China insists on sharing its development opportunities with the world.

"Zero tariff treatment" demonstrates the great ambition, broad vision, and significant responsibility of an open China.

"China welcomes all parties to continue to ride on the fast train of China's development, grow together with the Chinese economy, and work together to achieve peaceful development, mutually beneficial cooperation, and common prosperity for the modernization of all countries in the world."

Working together in harmony, coexisting and thriving.