Manufacturing has been among the first fields to see the benefits since China began opening up four decades ago. It is also the country's most competitive industry. This success has proved that further opening up is China's inevitable choice. Natalie Pang has more.

In the first four months of the year, China's high-tech manufacturing sector maintained growth of over 79 percent, with medical, electronic and communication equipment among the areas seeing the highest increases.

QIN HAILIN, DIRECTOR INSTITUTE OF INDUSTRIAL ECONOMICS, CCID THINKTANK "Through advancing cooperation with the US, EU, Japan and Korea and other developed countries in the field of manufacturing, the development of China's domestic industry can be accelerated."

Take the auto industry for example. China has become both the largest auto manufacturer and the largest auto market. With production efficiency and scale raised, China is planning to gradually cancel limits on foreign capital stock ratio by 2022.

HUANG QUNHUI DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE OF INDUSTRIAL ECONOMICS, CASS "Expanding the ratio of foreign trade imports will propel the transformation and upgrading of Chinese industries. Meanwhile, the development of China's manufacturing industries will also bring more mutual beneficial cooperation for the rest of the world."

Along with opening up of the manufacturing industry, experts believe expanding imports of high-quality products is also important to push supply-side structural reform.

GU XUEMING, HEAD CHINESE ACADEMY OF INT'L TRADE AND ECONOMIC COOPERATION "For example, in the medical field, there is still a large difference between China, the US and European countries. Another example is in the manufacturing, research and development of chips. Under this context, introducing products and services will not only satisfy people's demands, but also deal with insufficient supply during the social transition."

In 2017, almost 5,000 new overseas-investment enterprises entered China's manufacturing industry, a 24 percent increase year on year. With the lower thresholds, more attractive investment environment and better IPR protection, China's manufacturing industry will definitely rapidly move towards the middle and high end, and bring new opportunities to the whole world.