The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the country's most important political event this year, started on Sunday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Xi Jinping mentioned "development" over 100 times in his report to the 20th CPC National Congress, showing the world China's unwavering commitment to accelerating the creation of a new development pattern and pursuing high-quality development.

Xi called for fully and faithfully applying the country's new development philosophy on all fronts, continuing reforms to develop the socialist market economy, promoting high-standard opening-up, and accelerating efforts to foster a new pattern of development that is focused on the domestic economy and features positive interplay between domestic and international economic flows.

Opportunities for the world

China's gross domestic product (GDP) has grown to 114 trillion yuan from 54 trillion yuan in the past decade and come to account for 18.5 percent of the world economy, up 7.2 percentage points, Xi said.

In a report released last month, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said China contributed up to 38.6 percent on average to world economic growth from 2013 to 2021, more than the G7 countries combined.

In 2021 alone, China's economic aggregate accounted for 18.5 percent of the world's total after currency translation based on average annual exchange rates, the second largest in the world and up 7.2 percentage points from 2012, according to the NBS report.

Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and rising protectionism and anti-globalization, China has unveiled its new "dual circulation" development pattern, where internal and external markets can reinforce each other, with the domestic market as the mainstay.

China's new development pattern is not a development loop behind closed doors, Xi said, highlighting that China is committed to its fundamental national policy of opening to the outside world and pursues a mutually beneficial strategy of opening-up.

"It strives to create new opportunities for the world with its own development and to contribute its share to building an open global economy that delivers greater benefits to all peoples," he added.

High-standard opening-up

With 82 routes, China-Europe freight trains now reach 200 cities in 24 European countries, forming a transport network covering the whole of Europe. During the first eight months of 2022, the number of China-Europe freight train trips rose 5 percent year on year to 10,575, with a total of 1.02 million TEU of goods being transported, an increase of 6 percent from a year ago, according to data issued by the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd.

This is merely a small sample of how the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) can improve connectivity to spur global prosperity amid a lingering COVID-19 pandemic and sluggish global growth.

From 2013 to 2021, the total volume of trade of goods between China and countries along the BRI routes amounted to nearly $11 trillion, while two-way investment exceeded $230 billion, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

In his report, Xi hailed the BRI as a collaborative endeavor, saying it demonstrates China has pursued a more proactive strategy of opening-up over the past decade.

The BRI has been welcomed by the international community both as a public good and a cooperation platform, he pointed out, adding China is a major trading partner for more than 140 countries and regions, leads the world in total volume of trade in goods, and is a major destination for global investment and a leading country in outbound investment.

Xi also vowed that China will steadily expand institutional opening-up with regard to rules, regulations, management and standards.

Efforts will be made to accelerate the country's transformation into a trader of quality, promote the high-quality development of the BRI, and preserve the diversity and stability of the international economic landscape and trade relations, he added.

(Cover: The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) opens at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, October 16, 2022. /Xinhua)