According to the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in 2022, over half of Tesla's electric cars were made in China. A third of these cars were sold in China, while the rest were exported globally. This is a vivid example of China opening up its manufacturing sector. 

During his April inspection of GAC Aion New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd, one of the leading new energy vehicle (NEV) manufacturers in south China's Guangdong Province, Chinese President Xi Jinping noted that China is ready to collaborate with any nation that is interested in engaging in mutually beneficial cooperation to advance the shared prosperity and development of the global economy. 

"China's policy of reform and opening-up will remain unchanged over the long term," said Xi. 

The Chinese president has, on many occasions, stressed the importance of remaining steadfast in comprehensively deepening reform and expanding high-standard opening-up to broaden the development space for Chinese modernization. 

Super-sized market opportunities  

As the world's second-largest economy with over 1.4 billion people and a middle-income group of more than 400 million, China, through wider opening-up, has embraced others with an ultra-large consumer market. 

China's consumer market in 2022 remained generally stable, with total retail sales of consumer goods reaching 44 trillion yuan (about $6.51 trillion) and imports of consumer goods reaching more than $290 billion. 

Under the policy of high-standard opening-up, China has adopted a foreign investment law, shortened negative lists for foreign investment, and issued a series of measures to optimize the business environment, making the country a hot spot for foreign investment. 

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said in its World Investment Report 2023 that global foreign direct investment (FDI) fell by 12 percent in 2022, while inflows to the Chinese mainland rose by 5 percent to a record $189 billion, mainly in manufacturing and high-tech industries. 

In the first half of 2023, some 24,000 new foreign-investment firms were established in China, marking a 35.7-percent increase year on year, according to China's Ministry of Commerce. 

Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, China held a string of international events to further open up its vast market to the world, including the China International Import Expo (CIIE), the China International Consumer Products Expo and China International Fair for Trade in Services. 

Xi has spoken of China's enormous domestic market, which he would like to turn into "enormous opportunities for the world." 

"Our goal is to increase the middle-income population to more than 800 million in the next 15 years and promote the sustained growth of our super-sized market," he said at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in November 2022. 

Common development 

Among the essential requirements for Chinese modernization are building a community with a shared future for mankind and creating a new form of human advancement, according to the Report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. 

For the Chinese president, openness is a key driving force behind the progress of human civilizations and an intrinsic path toward global prosperity and development. 

To this end, as Xi pointed out at this year's Two Sessions, China has taken a host of actions to solidly promote high-level opening-up, not only making good use of the global market and resources to develop but also promoting common development across the world. 

A milestone in China's opening-up, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which took effect in 2022, has served as a key support to regional trade through a tough year like 2022.

In 2022, trade between China and other RCEP members increased 7.5 percent year on year to 12.95 trillion yuan (about $1.82 trillion), while their investment in China, in actual use, went up 23.1 percent to $23.53 billion, data showed. 

The Belt and Road Initiative proposed by Xi in 2013 has also played a large part in this aspect. It has so far brought nearly $1 trillion of investment, created some 420,000 local jobs, and helped lift nearly 40 million people out of poverty.