Original title: Firmly maintain the public goods attribute of the international ** chain.
At the beginning of this month, the first China International Chain Promotion Expo was successfully concluded in Beijing, which is the world's first national exhibition with the theme of the first chain, and is another international public good created by China to maintain the global multilateral economic and trade system, showing China's commitment to promoting the stable and smooth image of a responsible major country in the global industrial chain.
At present, the changes in the world, the times, and history are unfolding in an unprecedented way. The global industrial system and industrial chain show a trend of diversified layout, regional cooperation, green transformation, and accelerated digitalization. At the same time, unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise, and economic globalization is facing headwinds. The resilience and security of the industrial chain have become the strategic focus of today's great power game. With comrade as the core, we have a long-term vision and a mind for the world, and from a strategic height, we emphasize that China firmly maintains the public goods attribute of the industrial chain, which is China's plan to promote the stability and smoothness of the global industrial chain.
In April 2020, the general secretary proposed that the prevention and control of the epidemic made us realize that we must maintain the global public goods attributes of the industrial chain and the first chain, and resolutely oppose the politicization and popularization of the industrial chain and the first chain. In September 2022, the General Secretary once again stressed that China will unswervingly safeguard the public goods attributes of the industrial chain, ensure the security and stability of its own industrial chain, and deepen international cooperation in the industrial chain with practical actions, so that the fruits of development can better benefit the people of all countries.
China's firm position of maintaining the attributes of public goods in the industrial chain is undoubtedly the most powerful response to the current competition among major countries in the industrial chain. This position profoundly grasps the internal laws of the development and evolution of the global industrial chain from the height of public goods attributes, and at the same time jumps out of the zero-sum game thinking of industrial chain competition, and firmly advocates international cooperation in the industrial chain.
It is necessary to deeply understand the core connotation of the attributes of public goods in the first chain of the industrial chain. On the one hand, China's status as the "world factory" gradually formed since the reform and opening up, and as a key node and component of the global industrial chain system, it insists on improving the resilience and safety level of its own industrial chain to continuously provide high-quality and low-cost goods for the world. It must be recognized that China is the only country in the world that has all the industrial categories listed in the United Nations Industrial Classification, with a complete industrial system and strong resilience of the first chain. In 2022, the added value of China's manufacturing industry will account for nearly one-third of the global total, and the scale of the manufacturing industry will rank first in the world for 13 consecutive years, and the status of the global manufacturing center will continue to be stable. At the same time, China is the main partner of more than 140 countries and regions, the total amount of goods ranks first in the world, and the international market share of goods exports is close to 15%. Therefore, China's huge and extremely resilient industrial system and chain network have become an important public product serving global multinational companies to invest in China and develop steadily. On the other hand, in the field of international development assistance, the public goods attribute of the industrial chain is the foundation for the existence and development of the international development assistance system. During the period of epidemic prevention and control, China actively joined the COVAX and carried out the largest vaccine and other medical supplies in history, actively promoting the building of a global community of health for all. As of May 2022, China has provided 4.6 billion pieces of protective clothing, 18 billion testing kits, more than 430 billion masks, 2.2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines and other anti-epidemic materials to 153 countries and 15 international organizations. These are inseparable from China's strong industrial organization ability and chain toughness. Therefore, firmly maintaining the public goods attribute of the industrial chain not only provides fundamental support for China's international development assistance, but also provides a realistic path for the implementation of the Global Development Initiative and the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It fully demonstrates China's image as a responsible major country and further enriches the theoretical connotation of a community with a shared future for mankind.
It is of great significance to firmly maintain the public goods attribute of the industrial chain. China's firm stance of upholding the attributes of public goods in the industrial chain has to a certain extent refuted the misunderstandings and stigmatizing accusations caused by the "Kindleberger trap" theory, that is, it believes that China's trend after its rise may not be a "show of strength" but a "show of weakness", that is, it is unwilling to undertake the supply of important international public goods for which the United States is not responsible, thus plunging the world into a leadership vacancy and the danger of disorder in the international economic and political order. It shows the world that China is willing and capable of actively providing more high-quality international public goods to the world. It can be said that it is also a correct answer to the questions of China, the world, the people, and the times from the perspective of Chinese-style modernization, and a scientific understanding that conforms to the objective laws of China. It also has positive theoretical exploration significance for dissolving the zero-sum game mentality in great power competition and promoting the establishment of a more just and reasonable international political and economic order. At the same time, firmly maintaining the public goods attribute of the industrial chain is also of great practical significance for demonstrating to the world that China practices true multilateralism, promotes the implementation of the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative, and promotes the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
Firmly maintain the public goods attribute of the industrial chain, and steadily promote institutional opening-up. In the face of profound and complex changes in the domestic and foreign environment, institutional opening-up has become the core task of China's high-level opening-up, and it is also an inevitable requirement for China to firmly maintain the attributes of public goods in the industrial chain. This is because only by continuously promoting institutional opening-up can we continue to build a global network of high-standard free zones, and better promote the stability and smoothness of the industrial chain, so as to lay a solid institutional foundation for maintaining the public goods attributes of the industrial chain. Therefore, it is necessary to take China's accession to the "Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership", build a new land-sea corridor in the west, and actively apply for the "Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership" and "Digital Economy Partnership Agreement" and other international high-standard free trade agreements as an opportunity to deepen industrial chain cooperation with Asia-Pacific countries and regions, and help upgrade the development and cooperation of goods and digital.
Firmly maintain the public goods attribute of the industrial chain, and actively promote the construction of an open world economy. On the one hand, to promote the construction of an open world economy, countries are required to focus on strengthening the cooperation of the industrial chain, maintaining free and open investment, and supporting and strengthening the multilateral system with the world organization as the core, so as to create a favorable international environment for jointly maintaining the public goods attribute of the industrial chain. On the other hand, firmly maintaining the public goods attribute of the industrial chain will help to build consensus on global development cooperation and establish firm confidence in global industrial chain cooperation. This will further converge and form a strong driving force for building an open world economy and promote the development of the world economy in a healthy, stable and sustainable direction.
In short, firmly maintaining the public goods attribute of the industrial chain is not only a strategic choice for China to accelerate the construction of a new development pattern and focus on promoting high-quality development, but also an inevitable requirement for China to promote high-level opening up and promote the construction of an open world economy.
Authors: Ren Xiaogang and Meng Lei, respectively research fellows at the Beijing Research Center for Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in the New Era, and assistant researchers at the Research Center of the General Administration of Customs
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