Modernized economy is a window of opportunity

Following the Communist Party of China's landmark 19th National Congress in October, diligent efforts have been made to put into action the blueprint presented by General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping to guide the country's development on every front. In the economic sector, the focus is on achieving high quality growth and building a modernized economy.

The goal of building a modernized economy was discussed by the members of the Political Bureau of the 19th CPC Central Committee last Tuesday, at which Xi stressed the importance and difficulty of developing a modernized economy, calling on the whole Party to have "a good grasp of the goals and priorities of this task".

Developing a modernized economy is imperative if the country is to realize the shift of the development mode and economic structure for more sustainable development and take the initiative in international competition.

A modernized economy characterized by a market system that is unified, open, competitive and well-ordered, is thus a key goal for China now its per capita economic output has almost equaled the world's average after four decades of reform and opening-up.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of reform and opening-up and, to celebrate this milestone, China is determined to announce further measures to open the door wider to the world and introduce new market-oriented reforms. In the coming months, China will be drawing a relatively detailed road map to attain the goal of a modernized economy.

Tuesday's meeting emphasized the importance of coordinated development of the real economy, scientific innovation, modern finance, human resources, as well as better coordination of urbanrural development and environmental protection. It also highlighted the need to improve the income distribution system, with the focus on both efficiency and fairness, as a way to ensure reasonable income distribution, social justice and common wealth for the people.

Looking further afield, the blueprint set out by Xi is visionary and ambitious and it is not just China but the rest of the world can benefit from it.
China's economic interdependency with other countries means its policies will provide fresh opportunities to boost investment, trade, capital and human resources flows. And while pursuing its own development path, China will continue to learn from the experiences of other countries and offer its experiences as lessons that others can learn from.

China and the major world economies have developed various platforms that can be used to seek ways in which China's efforts to realize a modernized economy can serve the development of relations.

For example, China and the European Union are now in the process of negotiating an investment pact. China's determination to build a modernized economy could open a window of opportunity created by policy synergies to bolster and boost trade and investment at the bilateral level in coming decades.

China and Switzerland entered into innovation partnership in 2016. Being highly innovative is a key requirement of the modernized economy and so China can start from this close partnership to boost two-way exchanges in this area.

In a nutshell, China and other economies should seize the opportunities presented by China's pursuit of a modernized economy to better realize the synergies of their development strategies and seek mutually beneficial development.

The author is deputy chief of China Daily European Bureau. fujing@chinadaily.com.cn