Further reform, opening-up to better serve global growth

A container ship waits for departure at Qingdao Port. [Photo by Zhang Jingang/For China Daily]

Four decades after its reform and opening-up, China retains its allure as a vast, growing market and an investment destination while becoming a big source of investment.

This is expected to enable the world's second-largest economy to remain an engine of global growth as well as contribute more to globalization and free trade by creating new growth points and business opportunities.

Such an outlook has found support in China's first-quarter economic and trade data on top of steps taken this year to broaden market access as a way to further open up in a shift toward a high-quality growth.

Increased investor confidence can be seen as an indicator of how China's further reform and opening-up has affected the economy.

The investor confidence in China's economic performance was recently showcased by the J.P. Morgan Chase's Global China Summit held in Beijing on May 8 and 9 and attended by 2,200 investors and corporate executives from 50 countries and regions.

"Investors from around the world are moving to add investment here in preparation for opportunities to emerge in the future," said Jing Ulrich, managing director and vice-chair of the New York-based bank's Asia Pacific region.

For example, an investment facilitation policy adopted in late April in China's financial sector, which licenses foreign investors to set up securities trading firms with holding status, has triggered swift market reactions.

J.P. Morgan Broking (Hong Kong) Ltd has made such an application, planning to hold 51 percent of the stakes. Japan's largest securities trader Nomura has released a plan to set up a holding firm in China.

Considered a milestone in the internationalization of China's capital market, global index provider MSCI will list a number of China A-shares in its market indexes beginning June.

The measures provide new channels for global investors to share in the big cake of China's strong growth.

Steps to open up further

Manufacturing is another key sector to reduce restrictions on foreign investment. Regarding trade, China called off import tariffs on anticancer drugs beginning this month and will significantly lower tariffs on vehicles and other goods.

They are among the concrete measures outlined by President Xi Jinping at the annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia in April in Hainan province.

"We have a genuine desire to increase imports and achieve greater balance of international payments under the current account," Xi said in the keynote speech. The first China International Import Expo scheduled for November in Shanghai is expected to help increase imports.

In addition, Hainan island will become a pilot free-trade zone and, eventually, a free-trade port, Xi said during an inspection tour there after attending Boao gathering.

The moves reaffirmed a strong political will and a road map to deepen China's reform and opening-up that began at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in October.