China's opening up in the new era

Editor's note: Shenzhen, once the foremost frontier of China's reform and opening up, now becomes one of the key driving forces in the Guangdong - Hong Kong - Macao Greater Bay Area. What innovative measure is the city taking to keep its vitality? As China vows to open its door wider to the world, what mechanism has it put in place to fulfill the promise? And what are the effects? In this special episode of Closer to China, Dr. Robert Lawrence Kuhn takes a closer look at how China actively engages with the world.

China began its historic reform and opening-up policy in the late 1970s, and 1978 is considered the pivotal year. It is now 45 years later, and China has become the world's second largest economy, the largest trading nation, and it is involved in every area of global importance. So why, after four and a half decades of opening up, is China still continuing to address it? What kinds of opening up are relevant today in what China calls the "new era?" We focus on three kinds of contemporary opening up: China attracting young entrepreneurs to build tech businesses; China engaging the developing world by building infrastructure via the Belt and Road Initiative; and China making available its own, huge domestic market by boosting imports, especially via the massive China International Import Expo. What challenges lie ahead for opening up as China looks ahead to its national rejuvenation goals of 2035 and 2050?

Domestically, President Xi describes China's great rejuvenation as prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful; internationally, he promotes win-win cooperation for a global community of shared future. For China to achieve these grand goals, continuing to open up is vital. When China began opening up in the late 1970s, it was one-dimensional: allowing foreign capital, management and knowhow. In today's new-era China, opening up is multi-dimensional, including attracting talent, the Belt and Road Initiative and making China's market accessible to foreign products, companies and investors. 

Thus, there are four ways in which opening up today expands the original experiment. 

First, opening up goes in both directions, going out and coming in. 

Second, opening up includes trade facilitation, financial system reform, new industrial models and technology cooperation. 

Third, opening up relies on science, technology and innovation, no longer on energy-intense heavy industry and cheap labor. 

Fourth, the original opening up was under strict government control, but today, the market plays a decisive role. 

If I'd be telling a story that China's opening up is all "smooth and steady," that there are no problems, then I'd be telling a falsehood. Challenges abound, including uncertainties in the economy and caution among foreign companies and domestic entrepreneurs. China recognizes the challenges and is ready to take them on. 

( Dr. Robert Lawrence Kuhn is a renowned expert on China. For more than 30 years, he has worked with China's leaders and advised the Chinese government. Dr. Kuhn was awarded the prestigious "China Reform Friendship Medal" and "Chinese Government Friendship Award," the highest honors China gives to foreign nationals for their contribution to the country's development. )