Expo fuels breeze of openness that can warm the whole world: China Daily editorial

That more than 80 percent of the world's top 500 enterprises and leading players in various industries that have participated in previous expos are again in Shanghai to attend the Fourth China International Import Expo that opened on Wednesday speaks volumes about the importance of the event.

In all, nearly 3,000 enterprises from 127 countries and regions, three international organizations and 58 countries are taking part in the five-day event, the only one of its kind in the world, casting votes of confidence in not just the potential of the Chinese market, but also the prospects of the world economy. The expo, which is a clear demonstration that making domestic circulation as the mainstay does not equate to a development loop behind closed doors, is also a booster for the post-pandemic global recovery.

The presence of so many companies from so many countries and regions, most notably many of the leading players in the six major industries that are the focus of the expo's exhibition — food and agricultural products, automobiles, equipment, consumer goods, medical apparatuses and equipment and medicines, and trade in services — as well as the actual participation of 58 countries is a powerful counter to the stick-and-carrot tactics some US politicians have employed to incite and threaten the world not to deal with China.

Reinforcing this riposte, the most recent reports released by the chambers of commerce of the United States, the EU and Japan indicate that nearly two-thirds of US companies, 59 percent of EU companies and 36.6 percent of Japanese companies plan to expand their investment in China.

With a middle-income group of more than 400 million people, China will see hundreds of millions of people join this group in the foreseeable future as it advances its high-quality development.

It is the openness and opportunities of the Chinese market that have made the expo such a magnet. And in his keynote speech via video at the expo's opening ceremony, President Xi Jinping said that "Opening up is the hallmark of contemporary China".

Noting that a new wave of domestic development had been generated by China's accession to the World Trade Organization 20 years ago, and that it was its continual opening up since then that had injected fresh impetus into the world economy, he stressed that the country was still resolved to open wider to a high standard and to share its development opportunities with the rest of the world.

Likening openness to a spring breeze that can bring warmth to all parts of the world, he cautioned of declining openness and a weakening of the global consensus on opening up. He called on countries to pull together, saying that "For a boat to sail upstream, it has to forge ahead or be driven backward". China on its part stands ready to work with all countries for the common good.