Not even a pandemic can stop China from opening-up

By YUAN SHENGGAO

The ongoing Canton Fair has moved to the cloud for the first time, which showcases the government’s determination to further open up and stabilize foreign trade amid the challenges brought by COVID-19.

The export volume from China reported a year-on-year growth of 1.4 percent in May. Though the growth is slight in number, it signals that a positive perspective for the long-term development of the global economy remains.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, China has launched a series of solutions to stabilize foreign trade. This includes relieving the financial burden on foreign trade enterprises by reducing commercial, financial and customs taxes to help them resume production and operations.

There are more than 300,000 foreign trade entities registered in China, which have offered employment opportunities to nearly 200 million people.

Faced with sluggish global demand, they have made efforts to stabilize the foreign trade market by adjusting their operational strategies and contributed to maintaining China’s foreign trade growth.

Throughout the 127th Canton Fair, new products will be released at dozens of news conferences. They range from home appliances to construction materials; machinery to textiles; from heavy to light industries. With the technologies used to make the products being improved, the needs of customers will be further met.

China has maintained good relations with its trade partners throughout the world and will continue to grow its foreign trade ties through further opening-up.

In the first five months of 2020, trade between China and its partners from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations reached 1.7 trillion yuan ($240 billion), an increase of 4.2 percent year-on-year.

China has established foreign trade relations with more than 230 countries and regions. In the long term, China will continue to open up its market, upgrade its business environment, increase its import volume and foreign investment, to let more global partners enjoy the huge potential of Chinese market.