China Pavilion showcases efforts in opening-up during Shanghai event

Exhibits at the China Pavilion during the sixth China International Import Expo in Shanghai reflect well the country's progress and efforts in terms of high-standard opening-up and high-quality development over the past few years, said attendees during the event.

The free trade zones exhibition area, this year's focal point of the 2,500-square-meter China Pavilion, demonstrates the important exploration and practice of Chinese modernization, said Wu Zhengping, the pavilion's head and director of the trade development bureau of the Ministry of Commerce.

Since the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone was launched in September 2013 — the first of its kind in the country — another 20 FTZs have been established nationwide over the past decade. Through trials first conducted in the FTZs, 302 results were achieved — such as the negative list mechanism for foreign investment — and have been promoted nationwide by October, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Additionally, foreign direct investment injected into the FTZs rose 3.2 percent year-on-year to 222.52 billion yuan ($30.57 billion) in 2022, the ministry said. The total import and export value logged in the FTZs surged 14.6 percent on a yearly basis to 7.5 trillion yuan in 2022, accounting for 17.9 percent of the country's total.

With the pavilion, the nation sends the message that its development is inseparable from the rest of the world and vice-versa, Wu said.

China's modernization offers new opportunities to the world in terms of its massive market size, trade and investment, green development and international cooperation, he added.

Shanghai Microport Medbot (Group) Co Ltd showcased its independently developed surgical robot at the China Pavilion, making it the first such maker domestically, breaking the technology monopoly in China, said Liu Yu, the company's chief commercial officer.

Such progress cannot be separated from the support of the Shanghai FTZ, Liu said.

During a promotional event of FTZs on Monday, which is part of the sixth CIIE, Zhu Zhisong, head of the Shanghai FTZ's administrative committee, said the Shanghai FTZ's role in leading high-standard opening-up has been increasingly noticeable over the past decade, especially in the areas of car manufacturing, financial services and medical services.

Richard Kozul-Wright, director of the division on globalization and development strategies at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, said at the event that China's FTZs have facilitated industrial transformation in terms of upgrading industrial structure as well as developing an advanced, smart and green manufacturing sector.