BEIJING: Mohan, a small town in the southernmost part of southwest China’s Yunnan Province, reached a trade milestone last month, with over 10 million tonnes of freight, including fresh fruits, coffee, air conditioners and new-energy vehicles, transported on the China-Laos Railway over the previous three years.
Since the launch of the 1,035 km rail line in December 2021, Mohan has become an important transport hub with significant highway and railway ports. Also, it’s the only national-level land port linking China and Laos, with new development opportunities mushrooming.
The story of Mohan is a telling example of China’s unwavering high-level opening-up. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China 75 years ago, China has achieved leapfrog development in opening wider to the world.
Confident that opening-up is the right path, China has been implementing proactive strategies, including spurring trade growth, attracting foreign investment and expanding institutional opening-up, to accelerate cultivating new international competitive advantages and achieving mutual benefits with other countries.
In 1950, China’s foreign trade in goods was only 1.1 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 0.9 percent of the world’s total. By 2023, China’s total goods trade had reached 5.9 trillion U.S. dollars, accounting for 12.4 percent of the global share, and has consistently ranked first in the world for seven consecutive years.
Service trade has also undergone tremendous expansion. When the People’s Republic of China was founded, the country’s service trade was almost zero. While in 2023, China’s total service trade import and export volume reached 933.1 billion U.S. dollars, ranking fourth in the world.
The country is actively expanding imports to share market opportunities with the rest of the world.
In 2023, China’s import sources have covered over 200 countries and regions. The China International Import Expo (CIIE), the world’s first national-level import-themed expo, has been held for six consecutive years.“China should continue to offer new opportunities nurtured from its vast market to other countries by holding international fairs such as the CIIE, the China International Consumer Products Expo and the Global Digital Trade Expo,” said Ma Xiangdong, a professor at the Party School of the Communist Party of China of Beijing Municipal Committee. Continuous efforts have been made on lowering tariffs. China’s overall tariff level has been reduced to 7.3 percent, approaching the average level of developed countries. The country recently announced a move to give all the least developed countries that have diplomatic relations with China zero-tariff treatment for 100 percent tariff lines starting from Dec. 1 of this year. –Agencies
