China continues to open up despite gloomy global economy

The world economy continues to find itself on relatively rocky ground, with many analysts putting forth pessimistic outlooks for future growth. However, CHINA's economic planners appear determined to buck the trend.

Gloomy skies for the global economy

The World Bank cut its forecast for global GDP growth to 2.9 percent this year, the second consecutive year of slow growth. The IMF, OECD, and UN followed suit with similar downward adjustments of their own growth forecasts. Trade tensions and geopolitical uncertainties are partly to blame.

CHINA's economy managed to balance under outside pressure. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that CHINA remains the biggest contributor to growth worldwide. And despite the ongoing trade tensions with the U.S., CHINA remains the world's largest trader of goods. Last year, the country's trade volume hit a record high of over 30 trillion yuan (about 4.5 trillion U.S. dollars) – that's up nearly 10 percent from the previous year. And trade surplus continued to narrow, shrinking by 18 percent, to over two trillion yuan.

CHINA's trade volume hits 30 trillion yuan, 2018. /VCG Photo

But despite the grim economic landscape, CHINA's commitment to reform and opening-up shows no sign of wavering.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said, "We will open more sectors and improve the scope of opening up, continue to promote opening up based on flows of goods and factors of production, and give greater emphasis to opening up based on rules and related institutions."

Concrete steps have been laid out. The new Foreign Investment Law provides foreign companies with equal treatment and greater access to more economic sectors. The program of Pilot Free Trade Zones will continue its reform and innovation process. The five-year-old Belt and Road Initiative provides an open platform for shared opportunities and common development.

As President Xi Jinping said at last year's Boao forum, "CHINA will not close its door to the world, and it will only become more and more open."