Xie Ruoqing, Research Assistant at the Institute of Economics, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences

The 2nd China International Import Expo (CIIE) will be held in Shanghai from November 5th to 10th, 2019. [SEELE1] The CIIE 2019 will set up 6 exhibition areas for trade in goods including Sci-tech Life, Automobile, Equipment, Medical Equipment & Health Care Products, Quality Life, and Food & Agricultural Products, and 1 exhibition area for Trade in Services. Compared with the CIIE 2018, the CIIE 2019 showcases a wider range of exhibits and more specialized exhibition areas, with its exhibition area further expanded, and the structure of the exhibition area optimized.

President Xi Jinping pointed out in the CIIE 2018, “It is important for all countries to pursue innovative growth and speed up the transformation of growth drivers.” At present, the world economy faces multiple unstable factors as the international trade frictions continue and unilateralism rises. There is an urgent need for concerted efforts of countries in the world to promote scientific innovation and foster new growth drivers.

The CIIE is of great significance in terms of innovation for Chinese enterprises to open up to the outside world. On the one hand, the participants are able to directly introduce new equipment to help enterprises upgrade the industrial chain and develop new products. For example, China’s traditional machinery, electromechanical and other industries may purchase high-quality raw materials and advanced components to enhance their market competitiveness through the CIIE, and purchase more advanced foreign technology and equipment through the intelligent and high-end equipment platform to improve the production efficiency of enterprises and promote traditional manufacturing enterprises in China to shift from the low value-added link to the mid-to-high value-added link in the whole value chain. On the other hand, participants can join hands with global companies to participate in joint research and development, exchange resources and have deep cooperation with industry-university-research and new technology companies, and bring global innovation elements to China. The CIIE 2019 still attract a large number of quality companies to participate. In the medical industry, Artemed Group, Fujifilm, Siemens Healthineers, Sanofi, Pfizer, JNJ, Roche, AstraZeneca and other globally leading companies will showcase new drugs, cutting-edge medical devices and new technologies at this CIIE, and seek technical exchanges and cooperation. Sanofi will showcase 19 breakthrough innovations such as Dupixent, the world’s first targeted biologic agent for the treatment of moderate to severe atopic dermatitis, as well as advanced medical services such as the experience of intelligent management tool of Parkinson’s disease (PD). AstraZeneca said it will set up a global R&D center headquarters in Shanghai, of which the demonstration effect will positively bring in more resources. Seeing that bio-pharmaceutical industry is capital-intensive, technology-intensive and talent-intensive, relying on the display of the CIIE platform and the huge carrying capacity of the new area of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, global innovation elements will be attracted to China, providing fertile ground for the cooperation and innovation of local enterprises.

China’s innovation is an important achievement that will be shared by China and the world. On the one hand, China is an important cradle of innovation in the world. First, China’s population has exceeded 1.4 billion, and the proportion of the elderly population is in increasing year by year. By the end of 2018, the elderly population aged 60 and over in China is about 249 million, accounting for 17.9% of the total population. This provides sufficient clinical resources for the R&D of new drugs and the improvement of medical services. Second, in 2018, the number of Internet users shopping online in China reached 610 million, an increase of 14.4% over the previous year, and the netizens usage rate was 73.6%. The merchandise trade has taken the wing of digital economy based on the developed Internet trading platforms. In addition, China has the largest consumption of new energy vehicles among all countries. The sales volume of China’s new energy passenger vehicles has maintained rapid growth for many years and exceeded one million in 2018. The strong demand for new energy vehicles is an important reason for the establishment of Tesla Gigafactory 3 in the New Lingang Area of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone.

On the other hand, China’s development is an opportunity for the economic development of the world. Since China became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, the total volume of imports and exports of China has grown exponentially. At present, China actively expands imports, actively promotes the balanced development of foreign trade, and continuously optimizes the policy environment for trade. In 2018, China repeatedly lowered the import tariffs on some commodities, and the overall tariff level dropped from 9.8% to 7.5%, with an average decrease of 23%. In 2018, China’s total import and export of goods was 30,505bn yuan, an increase of 9.7% over the previous year. Among them, imports were 14,087.4bn yuan[A2] , up 12.9%; total import and export of services was 5,240.2bn yuan, of which imports were 3,474.4bn yuan, an increase of 10.0%. At the 2015 China-U.S. Governors Forum, President Xi Jinping proposed that China would maintain the goal of importing $10trn of goods in the next five years and continue to expand its opening to the outside world with the scale of import trade expand continuously. In recent years, China has been adhering to the principle of “opening-up and innovation for win-win cooperation,” sharing the achievements of China’s development with the world. The holding of two consecutive CIIEs fully demonstrates China’s responsible role and vision in a community of shared future for mankind.

The CIIE 2019 showcases China’s attitude of “opening-up and innovation for win-win cooperation” and reflects China’s philosophy of “insist on innovation to serve the World.” As China’s innovation, CIIE is the result of China’s further opening up and deep integration of global resources, and will ultimately promote the win-win results of the economic growth of China and the world.