Comprehensively deepening China’s reform will boost China-Argentina cooperation and global development and prosperity

Cooperation between China and the Argentina, Like global development and prosperity, they will have a strong boost from the Comprehensive deepening of China’s reformannounced during the recent Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

In a world of shared destiny, China’s new signal of opening up to the outside world will not only contribute to its high-quality development, but will also bring countless benefits to countries around the world.

To understand the magnitude of this process, it is important to review the achievements and practices of reform and opening-up in China, historic milestones that were especially summarized during the plenary session held in mid-July in Beijing:

Throughout the last decade of the so-called New Age, China has won the biggest battle against poverty in human history, increasing its life expectancy to 78.2 years, building the world’s largest education, health and social security systems, and developing the world’s most extensive highways and high-speed rail networks.

The Chinese economy has maintained a good pace of development, both in quantity and quality, in a global context characterized by insufficient growth.

China’s share in the global economy rose from 12.3% to nearly 18%, while China’s global innovation index rose from 35th to 12th and new energy vehicle sales will account for nearly 65% ​​of global sales in 2023.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 5% year-on-year during the first half of 2024, a percentage that coincided with the latest growth forecasts of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the entire current year.

The scale of imports and exports grew by 6.1% year on year, Chinese overseas investment ranked among the top three in the world for 11 consecutive years, and trade in goods led the global ranking for 7 consecutive years.

All these momentous achievements were the product of reform and opening-up, which have been regarded as the source of vitality for the development and progress of contemporary China, and the “magic secret” for the Chinese people to keep pace with the advancement of the times.

During the plenary session, it was decided to comprehensively deepen the reform, with the main goal of further improving the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, promoting the modernization of the system and the country’s governance capacity. In the face of new circumstances and new problems, based on pragmatic needs and pilot practices, various initiatives were also put forward to improve the socialist market economy and promote democratic politics, advanced culture, harmonious society and ecological civilization in a systematic and coordinated manner, so that the full vitality of labor, knowledge, technology, management and capital can burst forth to create social wealth for the benefit of all the people and build a strong nation.

In this context, It is important to note that Chinese modernization has always followed – and will continue to follow – the path of peaceful development. China advocates a fair and orderly global multi-polarization and an inclusive and win-win economic globalization. It also promotes the building of a community with a shared future for mankind and translates the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative into concrete actions.

More than 300 reform initiatives were put forward at the CPC plenary session, not only pointing out the path of China’s development, providing a window to understand the scope of China’s modernization, but also offering huge opportunities for the world to enjoy its benefits.

As highlighted in the plenary session, one of the central issues of the reform is to address the relationship between a State that must better perform its functions and a market that must play a decisive role in the allocation of resources.

In this process, China will build a higher-level open economic system, which it will achieve through four well-defined stages:

1. Expanding system-based opening-up. To achieve this, the country will adhere to high-level international economic and trade standards and create a first-class market-oriented business environment. Opening-up will be expanded in education, culture, health and other fields. National treatment will be guaranteed to foreign-funded enterprises in terms of access to factors, qualification licenses, standard setting, government procurement and other aspects.
2. Active integration into the international economy. Relying on the advantage of a mega-market of 400 million middle-income people, China will further open up markets for raw materials, services, capital and labor, reducing institutional transaction costs, promoting greater liberalization and facilitating international trade and investment.
3. New quality productive forces. The development of activities driven by scientific and technological innovation will be promoted. The contribution rate of scientific and technological progress to China’s economic growth has exceeded 60%, and the “three new products” (new energy vehicles, lithium batteries and photovoltaic devices) have increased the global supply of high-quality goods and promoted the transition and upgrading of local economies. In this context, China will increase its efforts in artificial intelligence, green energy, digital economy and other emerging industries, as well as accelerate bio-manufacturing processes, commercial aerospace and other strategic emerging sectors.
4. High-quality Belt and Road Initiative. China will continue its efforts to build roads and improve mechanisms to promote the construction of the high-quality Belt and Road Initiative. In more than 10 years, the initiative has attracted the participation of more than three-quarters of the world’s countries, including Argentina, and more than 30 international organizations, bringing nearly one trillion US dollars in investment and tangible benefits to all its members.

In this context, it is important to remember that China and Argentina are integral strategic partners and that both are at a critical stage in their respective developments.

China’s modernization – which is advancing with the aforementioned comprehensive deepening of reform – will undoubtedly favor the coupling of its mega market with Argentina’s development policies, providing new opportunities for Argentines to expand their exports, attract investments and promote their industrial transformation and modernization.

Based on the new starting point of the 10th anniversary of the China-Argentina Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which was commemorated this year, China is willing to work closely with Argentina to not miss this historic opportunity to consolidate cooperation in traditional fields such as agriculture, energy and mining.

At the same time, the opportunities offered by platforms such as the China International Import Fair (CIIE), the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) and the China International Consumer Goods Fair (CICGF) should be optimized in pursuit of balanced development of bilateral trade.

It is also essential to generate opportunities for innovation, expressed through new strategies in areas such as artificial intelligence, clean energy and the knowledge economy, in order to achieve common development and progress.

The main goal is to work together to build a brighter and more fruitful next decade for the comprehensive strategic partnership between the People’s Republic of China and Argentina.

Chinese Ambassador to Argentina