Nation to advance new development paradigm

China is ready to advance its "dual circulation" strategy and boost growth under the new development paradigm by accelerating economic transition, fostering greener growth and nurturing greater opening-up, experts and industrial insiders said.

Chi Fulin, president of the China Institute for Reform and Development, said that while the COVID-19 pandemic is still rampaging globally, China is and will continue to be the market with the hugest potential.

The country's new development paradigm－in which the domestic market is the mainstay and the domestic and foreign markets reinforce each other－will be fueled by its market and consumption potential, Chi said while addressing the China in Building a New Development Paradigm and the World forum over the weekend in Haikou, Hainan province. The forum was co-hosted by the CIRD, the Bank of China, China Daily and China Public Diplomacy Association.

Noting that China is currently in a critical stage of economic transition and upgrading, and estimates about its market potential are varied, Chi said that the country's industrial structural adjustment is expected to generate enormous market potential and its consumption momentum will remain strong.

The purchasing managers index for China's manufacturing sector came in at 49.2 in October, down from 49.6 in September, according to National Bureau of Statistics figures released on Sunday.

However, Chi said that with the country's socioeconomic transformation and upgrading, the room for household service consumption growth is huge. He estimated that by 2022, China will become the world's largest retail market, with total retail sales reaching $6.06 trillion.

He also estimated that by 2025, China's producer services are expected to account for 40 percent of total GDP, up from the current 30 percent. New producer services will be worth about 21 trillion yuan ($3.27 trillion), he said.

Monday marks the 30th anniversary of the China Institute for Reform and Development. Founded on Nov 1, 1991, the public research institution has, as Martin Raiser, World Bank country director for China, South Korea and Mongolia, put it, "played a really important role in China's reform and opening-up".

Raiser said at the forum that if China succeeds in shifting domestic demand toward consumption while sustaining the economic growth rate in the 4 to 5 percent range in the next decade, Chinese consumers can become the locomotive of the world economy.

Domestically, greener growth is expected to fuel the country's consumption in a healthier and more sustainable manner. Liu Lian'ge, the Bank of China chairman, told the forum that China is actively taking multipronged approaches on energy, production, consumption and the financial front to advance the country's green transition in social and economic development.

In recent years, with competent policy incentives, green consumption has become a new driver for China's economic transition and upgrading, he said.

"On the one hand, domestic green consumption has been improving from the supply side and the market has been growing. Energy-saving home appliances and new energy vehicles are increasingly favored by consumers in China.

"On the other hand, the concept of green consumption has become increasingly popular in China," he said, adding that a report issued by the United Nations Environment Programme shows that over 70 percent of Chinese consumers are aware of green consumption and about half of them are willing to pay a 10 percent premium on green products.

Zhou Shuchun, editor-in-chief and publisher of China Daily, said that a greater opening-up can be seen as China's boldest reform measure under the new global situation, and is "a key measure in coping with the profound changes in the international economic landscape".

Zhang Yansheng, chief researcher at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said that the new development paradigm will bring China's opening-up to a higher level in terms of institutional opening-up, attracting talent and boosting innovation.

He said that under the new development paradigm, China is in the process of removing trade barriers and tariffs, lowering subsidies and facilitating trade and investment. The country is also widening market access for the service sector.

"Institutional opening-up can be expected as the country will work to align with international standards," he said.

Leon Wang, executive vice-president of pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, said the paradigm will better connect China's domestic market with the global one, and help China make better use of resources at home and abroad to achieve stronger high-quality development.

"Though faced with complexities and global economic challenges, China has been and is continuing to open its door wider," he said, adding that the Chinese economy has shown strong resilience and played a leading role in the global fight against the economic uncertainty brought by the pandemic.