In the world today, regional conflicts and turbulence are frequent and escalating. A new wave of technological revolution and industrial transformation is rapidly advancing, bringing with it risks, challenges and strategic opportunities. While human civilization makes significant progress, insecurity, instability, and uncertainty are also on the rise.

In response, the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), held in July 2024, made it clear that opening-up is a defining feature of Chinese modernization, and that we must remain committed to the basic state policy of opening to the outside world and continue to promote reform through opening-up. Leveraging the strengths of China's enormous market, we will enhance our capacity for opening-up while expanding cooperation with other countries and develop new institutions for a higher-standard open economy.

On July 6, 2024, Anhui's first China-Europe freight train service across the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea is launched at the logistics base of Hefei north railway station in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province. Carrying 110 standard TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) filled with washing machines, auto parts, and other products, the train heads towards Istanbul, Türkiye. [Photo by Zhao Qiang/China News Service]

Opening-up — Chinese path to modernization

Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, China has adopted a more proactive opening-up strategy. It has signed 22 free trade agreements with 29 countries and regions. In the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, institutional innovations have emerged, such as the first negative list for foreign investment access, the first "single window" for international trade, and the introduction of free trade accounts.