21st Century Business Herald reporter Zhou Xiaoxiao and trainee reporter Zhang Xu reported from Beijing

The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China will be held in Beijing from October 20 to 23, 2025. The plenary session reviewed and approved the "Recommendations of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the Fifteenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development."

The plenary session proposed expanding high-level opening up to the outside world and creating a new situation of win-win cooperation. Steadily expand institutional opening up, maintain the multilateral trading system, expand international circulation, promote reform and development through opening up, and share opportunities and common development with other countries in the world. We should actively expand independent opening up, promote innovative development of trade, expand two-way investment and cooperation space, and jointly build the "Belt and Road" with high quality.

Peng Bo, a researcher at the Ministry of Commerce Research Institute, told the 21st Century Business Herald reporter, "High-level opening up is not only a need for economic development, but also an inevitable choice for Chinese-style modernization in the new era."

Hainan Yangpu Port Container Terminal, photo: Zhang Xu

Four key words to look at opening up

Luo Yuze, deputy director of the Foreign Economic Research Department and first-level inspector of the Development Research Center of the State Council, told a reporter from the 21st Century Business Herald that the main plans for opening up in the next five years at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee can be summarized in four key words.

The first is "high level", which sets forth requirements in terms of the breadth, depth, scope, level and method of opening up. Although the external situation we face is severe and complex, we maintain strategic focus and will continue to promote opening up.

The second is "win-win", that is, sharing opportunities and common development through cooperation, not only promoting its own sustainable development, but also actively shouldering the responsibilities of a major country to help other countries achieve economic growth. This is in sharp contrast to the United States, which holds high the "America First" banner and pursues unilateralism and protectionism.

The third is "innovation". We are facing new international rules and world order, and advances in information technology, digital technology, green technology, and smart technology are also constantly providing new tools and means. Trade needs to adapt to changes with the times, and make adaptive transformation and forward-looking layout in terms of trade content, business formats, methods, platforms, carriers, etc., to shape international competitiveness in the new environment.

The fourth is "persistence". Two-way investment is an important part of my country's opening up and cooperation. The "Belt and Road" is an irreplaceable practical platform for promoting the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind. Since entering the new era, two-way investment and the "Belt and Road" are closely related and mutually supportive. They have played a prominent role in building a new development pattern and promoting high-quality development in my country. We should continue to persist in the next five years to expand cooperation space, tap cooperation potential, improve cooperation mechanisms, and enhance cooperation benefits.

High-level opening up is of great significance

Peng Bo, a researcher at the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, said that expanding high-level opening-up is of far-reaching significance to my country's economic development. "High-level opening up is not only a need for economic development, but also an inevitable choice for Chinese-style modernization in the new era."

He believes that first, it helps to stimulate new growth momentum and improve total factor productivity through the introduction of advanced technology and management experience; second, it enhances risk resistance, and diversified international market layout can reduce the impact of external shocks; third, it promotes high-quality economic development, promotes the upgrading of industrial structure and coordinated regional development; fourth, it enhances international influence, demonstrates the responsibility of a responsible big country, and contributes Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to global development.

Yu Fenghui, a specially invited researcher at the China Financial Think Tank, told a reporter from the 21st Century Business Herald: "On the one hand, opening up can help introduce advanced foreign technology and management experience and enhance the overall competitiveness of our country's industries; on the other hand, it can better utilize international market resources and alleviate the pressure on domestic resources and the environment. It can also help improve my country's status and influence in global governance and promote the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind. In addition, high-quality opening up can also promote the prosperity of the domestic market and meet the people's growing needs for a better life."

Data from the National Immigration Bureau shows that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, various visa-free policies have been actively promoted and optimized. my country has implemented unilateral or comprehensive mutual visa exemptions for 75 countries; the number of transit visa-free countries has been expanded to 55, and the length of stay has been extended to 240 hours, driving inbound tourism to continue to increase. Currently, Chinese passport holders can travel to more than 90 countries (regions) around the world without a visa or with a visa on arrival, and their “gold content” continues to increase.

Opening up to the outside world has also provided foreign trade with a more diversified export market and a broader source of commodities. Recent data released by the General Administration of Customs shows that in the first three quarters of this year, my country's imports and exports to countries co-building the "Belt and Road" were 17.37 trillion yuan, an increase of 6.2%, accounting for 51.7% of the total import and export value, and the proportion increased by 1.1 percentage points. Imports and exports to ASEAN, Latin America, Africa, and Central Asia increased by 9.6%, 3.9%, 19.5%, and 16.7% respectively. Imports and exports to other APEC economies increased by 2%.

It can be seen that China's expansion of high-level opening up to the outside world is sharing opportunities and common development with other countries in the world.

How to expand high-level opening up to the outside world?

In Yu Fenghui’s view, the key to achieving the goal of expanding high-level opening up mentioned in the communiqué lies in several aspects.

First, steadily expand institutional opening up. This means that we must not only continue to reduce tariffs and non-tariff barriers, but also pay attention to the international integration of rules, regulations, management, standards, etc., promote the coordination and connection of domestic rules with internationally accepted rules or high-standard rules, and create a fairer and more transparent competitive environment for domestic and foreign enterprises.

Secondly, maintain the multilateral trading system and expand the space for international cooperation. Actively participate in WTO reform, strengthen free trade agreement negotiations with other countries and regions, deepen bilateral and regional economic cooperation through the "Belt and Road" initiative and other platforms, and promote the optimization and upgrading of global industrial and supply chains.

Finally, actively expand independent opening up and encourage innovation. This includes supporting the development of new trade methods such as cross-border e-commerce and digital trade, promoting pilot innovative development of service trade, and increasing the protection of intellectual property rights to create a market atmosphere conducive to innovation.

In Peng Bo's view, in the next five years, my country will further deepen opening up from multiple dimensions such as institutions, trade, investment, and international cooperation, and promote the formation of a new pattern of opening up to the outside world that is larger in scope, wider in scope, and deeper in depth.

Steady expansion of institutional openness is the core task. Our country will accelerate the integration and leadership of international high-standard economic and trade rules, and promote reform and innovation at the institutional level such as rules, regulations, management, and standards. For example, we should improve the legal and regulatory system in areas such as intellectual property protection, fair competition, and digital economic governance, and enhance the internationalization, legalization, and facilitation of the business environment.

Promoting reform and development through opening up is the key path. By expanding the international cycle, my country will be deeply integrated into the global industrial chain, supply chain, and value chain, and promote the mutual promotion of domestic and international dual cycles. Actively promote the development of new business formats such as service trade and digital trade, support new models such as cross-border e-commerce and overseas warehouses, and improve the level of digitalization and greening of trade. At the same time, we should optimize the export structure, enhance the international competitiveness of high-tech and high value-added products, and consolidate the basis for a stable and optimal structure of foreign trade.

The space for two-way investment and cooperation will be further expanded. On the one hand, we will continue to relax foreign investment access restrictions, especially in modern service industries such as finance, telecommunications, medical care, and education, and implement foreign investment laws to ensure national treatment for foreign-invested enterprises; on the other hand, we will encourage powerful enterprises to "go global" in an orderly manner, carry out greenfield investments, M&A investments, and project contracting, and enhance global resource allocation capabilities. Through two-way interaction, efficient flow of capital, technology, talents and other elements can be achieved.

Finally, high-quality joint construction of the “Belt and Road” is an important starting point. Peng Bo said: "In the next five years, we should continue to deepen practical cooperation with the countries involved in the 'Belt and Road' initiative in the fields of infrastructure connectivity, production capacity cooperation, technological innovation, green and low carbon, create more people's livelihood projects, and enhance the inclusiveness and sustainability of development. At the same time, relying on open platforms such as the Free Trade Pilot Zone and Hainan Free Trade Port, we will pilot policy innovations and accumulate experience for the country."