Analysts hail Xi's speech on reform, opening-up

President Xi Jinping's speech on Tuesday marking the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up was a nod to decades of incredible achievements while offering policy continuity in the pursuit of further reform, experts said.

"The practice of reform and opening-up over the past 40 years has shown that openness brings progress, while seclusion leads to backwardness," Xi said, while pledging to support the building of an open, transparent, inclusive and nondiscriminatory multilateral trading system.

Jon Taylor, a US professor of political science at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, said Xi underscored the critical role that the Communist Party of China has played and continues to play in fostering China's development.