近日，沈敏娟大使在 Money, Finance, Wealth 期刊发表英文署名文章，介绍中国经济发展前景和对世界经济重要贡献。全文如下：
Chinese Economy: An Engine for Global Growth
Seventy-five years ago, China and Mongolia established diplomatic relations. Since then, the two countries have witnessed continued growth of bilateral ties. As the permanent neighbors, China and Mongolia are now in the peak of bilateral relations. The two countries have been accomplishing each other on the way of economic growth with strong mutual complementarity. China has been and will be a reliable partner of Mongolia and beyond for common development. We will continue to champion an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization for the justice, fairness, peace, and development of the region and the world.
Belt and Road in 10 years and more
Over the past ten years, China has remained the largest contributor of the global economy. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has brought benefits to the people in countries along the route. It has been a booster to the world when recovery is sluggish. More than 3,000 projects have brought along nearly a trillion dollars of investment. China has signed Belt and Road agreements with over 150 countries and 30 international organizations. The BRI has aligned with development strategies of more than 30 countries and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and formed synergy with regional organizations including ASEAN, the African Union, and the Eurasian Economic Union.
China held the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation last October, another important milestone in the process of Belt and Road cooperation. The forum sent a clear message of unity, cooperation, openness and win-win outcome. President Xi Jinping proposed for the first time that global modernization should be pursued through the joint efforts of all countries to enhance peaceful development and mutually beneficial cooperation and bring prosperity to all. He also announced in his keynote speech eight major steps China will take to support high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, which is consistent with China's vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind.
Roads, bridges, high-speed rails, and green energy plants are all examples of what China means for the world. Here in Mongolia, the first highway and three-level interchange have well integrated into people’s lives, the 1,008 households and the Wastewater Treatment Plant will be completed soon, and the Desertification Prevention and Control Center is in the pipeline. World Bank estimates that, when the transportation projects of the BRI are all implemented, global income will increase up to 2.9% by 2030, lifting 7.6 million people out of extreme poverty and 32 million out of mid-level poverty. The BRI will continue to serve as an important public good that China provides to the world in the next decade.
A steady engine of growth
The Chinese economy is making steady progress and will continue to provide strong impetus for the world economy. China is an important engine of global development. Over the years, its contribution to world economic growth has stayed at around 30%. In 2023, the Chinese economy rebounded and moved upward, with a GDP growth of 5.2 percent, ranking among the top of major economies.
The overall trend of long-term growth will not change. In terms of the industrial base, China is the only country with industries across all categories in the UN industrial classification. The added value of China’s manufacturing industry accounts for around 30% of the global total, ranking first in the world for 14 consecutive years. China is also home to over 200 mature industry clusters. With its large scale, complete categories and strong supporting capacity, China’s industrial system can meet the demand of the rapid development of social productivity and will contribute to better global allocation of production factors and the rise in global productivity. The 400-million middle income group in China means a huge market not only for domestic consumption but also for the international businesses to explore new opportunities, and the number is expected to be doubled to eight million in the next decade.
In terms of innovation capacity, China’s total input in research and development and investment in the high-tech sector have been growing at double-digit rates for several years running. It has become a major driver of China’s high-quality development, which will lift China up the global value chain. New technologies, including cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence and blockchain, are being applied at a faster pace. New products and new business forms such as intelligent terminals, robots and telehealth keep emerging. China now has some 400,000 high-tech enterprises and ranks second globally in the number of unicorn companies. China contributed over half of the increased installed capacity of renewable energy around the world in 2023. China has also become world’s largest auto exporter in 2023 with 4.91 million cars exported, one-third of which are electric cars. All this will boost the formation and cultivation of new growth drivers in China.
Looking at the broader picture, we are now advancing Chinese modernization on all fronts through high-quality development. Delivering modernization to more than 1.4 billion people will be a remarkable achievement in human history, one that will provide continuous impetus to the development of China and the wider world.
A door opening wider to the world
China remains firmly committed to opening up. We will continue to create favorable conditions for the world to share in China’s opportunities. In the past four decades and more, China has achieved development and shared benefits with the world through opening up. Right now, China is a major trading partner of over 140 countries and regions. Our overall tariff level has been cut to 7.3%, relatively the same as the developed members in the World Trade Organization. By opening up wider, we aim to share China’s opportunities and develop together with all in the world.
China has held six China International Import Expos, the only country to do so, over the past years even during COVID. In the CIIE last year, nearly 3,500 companies from 128 countries and regions were present and USD 78.41 billion intended deals were made, up by 6.7% year on year. Over the years, multinational corporations have cultivated the Chinese market and, based on China’s manufacturing capacity, expanded their global production, grown fast and had good reward. In the past five years, the return on foreign direct investment in China stands at around 9%, which is quite competitive globally.
We will steadily expand institutional opening up, continue to shorten the negative list for foreign investment, follow through on removing all restrictions on access for foreign investment in the manufacturing sector, and guarantee national treatment for foreign businesses to build a market-oriented, law-based and world-class business environment. All in all, no matter how the world changes, China will stay committed to the fundamental national policy of opening up and open its door still wider to the world.
The growing bilateral relations
China and Mongolia share huge economic complementarity. In 2023, the Mongolian economy achieved historic breakthroughs with growth over 6.8%, surplus in budget and international balance, over 100 million tons of freight turnover and 650,000 tourists. China has been a reliable partner as the bilateral trade soared by nearly 30% to a historic high of about USD 17 billion. The border ports, flights, and trains have been running at maximum capacity.
2024 marks the 75thanniversary of the China-Mongolia ties and the 10th anniversary of the comprehensive strategic partnership. We will continue to offer each other economic strength and seek new areas of cooperation under the eight priorities of the BRI and align our development strategies with the regional development initiative of Mongolia. As the largest exporter and importer of Mongolia, China will work with Mongolia to reach the 20 billion goal set by our leaders to bring benefits to the two peoples to demonstrate the vitality of the big Asian Family.
Shen Minjuan
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to Mongolia