China's opening-up pledge at G20 summit benefits world economy, experts say

BEIJING, July 1 (Xinhua) -- When addressing the just-concluded 14th Group of 20 (G20) summit in Japan, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged that China will further open up its market. It not only conforms to China's interests, but contributes to the world economy, experts said.

China will further open up its market, proactively expand imports, continuously improve its business environment for foreign enterprises, and press ahead with negotiations on economic and trade deals, Xi said.

"What was striking was that, even though China is under various external pressures, President Xi powerfully and publicly reaffirmed China's commitment to further reform and opening up in the new era," said Robert Lawrence Kuhn, a leading U.S. expert on China.

"The Chinese president confirms the road to keep developing reforms of gradual opening up, and expanding spaces for foreign firms' participation in China's market," said Fabio Massimo Parenti, a professor of international studies at the International Institute Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence, Italy.

"Xi has announced the new reform that China will adopt to give its proactive contribution to the world economy's development and to reducing world imbalance, and has called for a global action in order to address together the new challenges, starting from WTO reforms," said Francesco Maringio, a China expert based in Italia's Bologna.

Xi's remarks reflect China's resolve to push forward free trade and marketization, further open up, and enhance its exchanges with other parts of the world, said Chen Gang, assistant director of East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore.

China has played a positive role in promoting cooperation between nations and between regions, said Gu Qingyang, associate professor of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, noting that Xi's remarks on China's new opening-up measures demonstrate the country's willingness to contribute to the world development.

Xi indicated that China "would be more open to investment, would be playing more of a role in terms of world policy," said William Jones, Washington bureau chief of the U.S. publication Executive Intelligence Review.

Xi in his speech called on countries to work together so as to jointly find the solution to some of the major challenges facing the world, he said, adding that what the Chinese president has proposed could be a guideline for the future of global development and better cooperation between countries.

China has been "translating Xi's words into actions," broadening international access to its market in manufacture and finance, creating a more attractive investment environment for foreign companies, strengthening protection of intellectual property rights, and reducing tariffs and expanding imports in multiple categories, said Kuhn, also chairman of the Kuhn Foundation.