China's high-level opening up is powering global growth

An aerial drone photo taken on May 29, 2025 shows cargo ships berthing at a container dock of Qingdao Port in Qingdao, east China's Shandong province. [Photo/Xinhua]

China's approach to substantive, high-quality opening up is proving to be a critical endeavour for a safe and mutually progressive future. This can clearly be seen in a series of high-profile exhibitions and trade fairs held in recent weeks, such as the 3rd China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) and the 9th China-South Asia Expo (CSAE). Both events attracted dozens of trade contracts, economic agreements and cutting-edge technology innovations that have produced significant potential for robust global engagement. 

"China's policy of attracting foreign investment will not change and the door to openness will only open wider," said Chinese Commerce Minister Wang?Wentao in a recent meeting with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. 

Factor in visa-free entries and multisector offerings for investors, and it is clear that the path to embracing high-quality growth and modernization is promising. Here is how.

First, the 3rd CISCE is proof that China is bringing proponents of global innovation together. After all, breakthrough innovations spanning industry-specific technologies, new robotics and clean energy applications send a powerful signal that China is willingly opening up more sectors for foreign investors and exhibitors alike. Innovative measures such as a "Debut Zone" at the CISCE provided a melting pot for over 100 internationally competitive products to feature in a market that has a track-record of easing market access – both within and beyond the region. 

These measures reflect a conscious push from China to create an environment for trading partners conducive to weathering the tide of protectionism, and generating enduring business-to-business linkages. It shows in the rampant increase in investments from major enterprises in China's cutting-edge technology sector, where the benefit of secure supply chains, firm and dependable government support, strong resilience against external shocks and deep R&D indigenization, affords vital strategic advantages. With heads of notable foreign enterprises making exactly this case this month, and new quality productive forces creating new inroads, it is clear that China is offering to share the dividends of long-term modernization.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), long viewed as a fixture of future trade advancement and trade liberalization in the Asia-Pacific, also merits significant confidence. China's own contribution to bringing together the motivations of RCEP partner countries makes that point clear: The 9th CSAE saw nearly 1.4 billion yuan in new economic agreements, a vital value addition on the back of China's 4th RCEP Regional (Shandong) Import Commodity Expo. China's ability to convene a broad range of stakeholders, including the heads of major multinationals, partner group governments, budding entrepreneurs and international suppliers, demonstrates a forward-looking approach to high-standard opening up, and one where the policies undergirding high quality opening – cross-border data governance, streamlined financial support for foreign firms, and robust multisector investments in domestic R&D sectors – are conducive to the future demands of developing and developed economies alike. 

As China looks to further evolve new quality productive forces and elevate its reforms of management frameworks, these are powerful endorsements of an innovation-focused development model and evidence of China's stronger global economic integration. 

China's visa-free entry measures have also played a meaningful role in propelling trade and travel connectivity when it matters most. The country's visa-free access now spans dozens of countries, indicating a conscious investment in foreign exposure that has seen foreign entries soar beyond 13.6 million so far this year. Growing overseas receptivity to China creates fresh incentives for spending, in turn revitalizing core consumer industries at home, and enabling domestic and foreign firms to exercise healthy competition for cost-effective and high-quality product offerings. 

The move also helps bring down transaction costs and generates pathways to setting up new small and medium-sized enterprises through easier market access. It has also helped business participation soar in major trade expos, from the Canton Fair to the CSAE and CISCE. The China-Malaysia mutual visa free agreement, and new pacts spanning Latin American states, further demonstrate China's deepening collaboration with the Global South – a vital indication to bring down trade barriers and prepare the ground for more inclusive, and growth-receptive economic architecture. 

Glimmers of that architecture can be seen in China and Latin America's regular convenings on a shared future, including ministerial level convenings of the China-Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) Forum. This is important because major sectors such as renewable energy and digital technology are fast altering the productivity and manufacturing heft of many Latin American states, helping to empower local industries from the ground up. As China deepens its opening up with an eye on bolstering people-to-people exchanges, prospects of future business integration, public-private partnerships and deeper unity within the Global South merit considerable optimism. 

China plans to enhance its pilot free trade zones by promoting innovative reforms and integrated development, aiming to elevate them into advanced platforms for higher-level openness and stronger reform momentum. Such efforts underline a commitment to bolstering mechanisms for high-quality cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, a consolidating factor for many countries taking part in major Chinese expos and trade fairs this year. 

The China-South Asia Expo – which traces its origins back to 2013, the year of the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – is a case in point. Participating exhibitors can view trade exhibitions as major avenues to promote BRI-linked market access, as the initiative provides a framework for infrastructure financing and allows partner states to promote specialty products, and consider deeper integration into regional supply chains. China's active promotion of key BRI corridors, including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, sends a powerful message that the path to high-standard opening up is driven by a desire to extend modernization benefits to BRI partners overseas. 

China's large and open market provides shared opportunities worldwide, and will keep fueling global economic expansion and dynamism. Using new productive forces to inject further resilience, vitality and international outreach in this market is therefore a critical indicator that China is supportive of mutual collaborations and an equitable, growth-friendly future for all.

Hannan Hussain is co-founder and senior expert at Initiate Futures, an Islamabad-based policy think tank.

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.