Xi Jinping's Written Speech at the APEC Business Leaders Summit (Full Text)
Work together to meet the challenges
Write a new chapter in Asia-Pacific cooperation
- Written speech at the APEC Business Leaders Summit
(San Francisco, November 16, 2023)
President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping
Dear representatives of the business community,
Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,
It is my great pleasure to be invited to attend the APEC Business Leaders Summit. I visited San Francisco many years ago and was impressed by the openness, inclusiveness, and innovation of this beautiful city.
Thirty years ago, in the face of the questions of the world, history and the times after the end of the Cold War, the leaders of the Asia-Pacific region convened the first APEC Economic Leaders' Informal Meeting in line with the trend of the times of peace and development, and unanimously agreed to go beyond the old thinking of bloc confrontation and zero-sum game, deepen regional economic cooperation and integration, and strive to build a vibrant, harmonious and prosperous Asia-Pacific family. This major decision has pushed Asia-Pacific development and economic globalization into the fast lane, helping the Asia-Pacific region become a center of world economic growth, an anchor of global development stability, and a highland of cooperation. The extraordinary history of Asia-Pacific cooperation has brought us many profound inspirations.
-- Openness and inclusiveness are the main themes of Asia-Pacific cooperation. The development of the Asia-Pacific region relies on openness and inclusiveness, learning from each other's strengths and complementing each other's weaknesses, rather than confrontation, beggar-thy-neighbor and "small courtyards and high walls". Adhering to the principle of open regionalism, we have jointly formulated the Bogor Goals and the Putrajaya Vision to promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and enhance regional economic integration. Over the past 30 years, the average tariff level in the Asia-Pacific region has fallen from 17% to 5%, contributing 70% to world economic growth.
-- Common development is the overall goal of Asia-Pacific cooperation. Development is the eternal theme of the Asia-Pacific region. We have always focused on development, deepened economic and technological cooperation, and strengthened the capacity of developing members to develop independently. Together, we have pioneered the "APEC approach" that is autonomous, voluntary, consensual and progressive, respecting the right to development of all members. Over the past 30 years, per capita income in the Asia-Pacific region has more than quadrupled, and one billion people have been lifted out of poverty, making an important contribution to human progress and global sustainable development.
-- Seeking common ground while reserving differences is a good practice in Asia-Pacific cooperation. The economies of the Asia-Pacific region have different histories, cultures and stages of development, and the promotion of cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region cannot require uniformity, but can only follow the path of seeking common ground while reserving differences. Over the past 30 years, we have properly responded to major challenges such as the Asian financial crisis and the international financial crisis, and maintained the good momentum of economic development in the Asia-Pacific region.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,
The world has entered a new period of turbulence and change, with insufficient momentum for world economic growth and an increase in unstable, uncertain and unpredictable factors. Where Asia-Pacific cooperation will go in the next 30 years has become a new question of the times that we are facing. "All things are born according to their origins, and all things are made by their ways. "We must uphold the original aspiration of APEC, keep in mind the mission entrusted to us by history, and promote Asia-Pacific cooperation to start again.
San Francisco is the place where the Charter of the United Nations was signed, and the good wishes of the people of all countries for world peace are enshrined. Peace is not easy to come by, and development has a long way to go. We need to jointly uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, adhere to the path of state-to-state exchanges based on dialogue rather than confrontation and partnership rather than alliance, and safeguard the prosperity and stability of the Asia-Pacific region. The Asia-Pacific region cannot and should not be reduced to a gladiatorial arena for geopolitical games, still less can it engage in a "new Cold War" and bloc confrontation.
The history of prosperity and development in the Asia-Pacific region shows that only cooperation can lead to development, and non-cooperation is the biggest risk. We need to uphold open regionalism, unswervingly advance the process of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific, respect economic laws, give full play to our comparative advantages, promote economic linkage and integration among all countries, strengthen the synergy of relevant regional economic and trade agreements and development strategies, and build an open Asia-Pacific economy with win-win cooperation.
In the face of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, we must focus on the long term, seize the opportunity, take advantage of the momentum, promote the transformation and development of digital, intelligent and green, jointly strengthen scientific and technological innovation and the transformation of achievements, and promote the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy. We need to work together to improve global science and technology governance, strengthen the support of scientific and technological innovation for green digital transformation and sustainable development, and create an open, fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for scientific and technological development.
Ten years ago, I put forward the idea of promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. The Putrajaya Vision formulated by APEC clearly proposes to build an Asia-Pacific community by 2040, pointing out the direction for Asia-Pacific cooperation. In recent years, in response to the urgent needs of the world, I have put forward the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, with the aim of promoting all parties to jointly address various global challenges, promote common global development and enhance the well-being of all mankind. China stands ready to work with all parties in the Asia-Pacific region to advance the implementation of these initiatives and jointly build an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world featuring lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,
Since the beginning of this year, China's economy has continued to rebound, maintaining a leading growth rate among major economies in the world, and making solid progress in high-quality development. China remains the world's largest growth engine, contributing one-third to global economic growth this year. As friends from the business community said, China has become synonymous with the best investment destination, the next "China", or China, welcome friends from the business community from all over the world to continue to invest in China, deep cultivation of China!
China has the institutional advantages of the socialist market economy, the demand advantage of the super-large-scale market, the supply advantage of a complete industrial system, and the talent advantage of a large number of high-quality workers and entrepreneurs, and its economic development has strong endogenous driving force, resilience and potential. In the past, China has climbed through the hurdles and made historic achievements in overcoming risks and challenges. At present, China's economy is resilient, has sufficient potential, and has wide room for maneuver, and the long-term positive fundamentals have not changed and will not change. We are confident and more capable of achieving long-term and stable development, and will continue to bring new impetus and new opportunities to the world with China's new development.
China has thoroughly implemented the new development philosophy of innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing, and unswervingly promoted high-quality development. In recent years, China's exports of new energy vehicles, lithium batteries and photovoltaic products have grown rapidly, and the upcoming national greenhouse gas voluntary emission reduction trading market will create huge green market opportunities. We will accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system, provide better institutional guarantees for all types of business entities to share the fruits of development, and continue to cultivate new growth momentum and release greater development space.
We insist on opening the door to construction, unswervingly promote high-level opening-up, further expand market access, and have announced the complete abolition of restrictions on foreign investment in the manufacturing sector. Recently, the 6th China International Import Expo was successfully held, and the second Global Digital Trade Expo will be held later this month to further expand opening up and share development opportunities and dividends with other countries. China is implementing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) with high quality, actively aligning with the high-standard economic and trade rules of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Digital Economy Partnership (DEPA), actively promoting the process of joining the two agreements, and expanding the network of high-standard free trade areas facing the world. This year marks the 10th anniversary of my Belt and Road Initiative. Last month, China successfully held the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, which resulted in 458 outcomes, Chinese financial institutions set up a 780 billion yuan Belt and Road project financing window, and Chinese and foreign enterprises reached a business cooperation agreement of 97.2 billion US dollars, which will promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative and inject strong impetus into global connectivity and development and prosperity.
No matter how the international situation changes, China's determination to create a market-oriented, law-based and international business environment will not change, and the policy of providing high-quality services for foreign investment without discrimination will not change. We will continue to improve the mechanism for protecting the rights and interests of foreign investment, further reduce the negative list for foreign investment access, fully protect the national treatment of foreign-invested enterprises, and continue to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights. We will strive to break down the barriers restricting the flow of innovative elements, deepen reforms in the digital economy, and promote the orderly and free flow of data in accordance with the law. At the same time, we will launch more "heart-warming" measures to optimize the policies for foreigners to come to China and stay in China, and strive to break through the blockages in the use of financial, medical, Internet payment and other services in China, so as to provide better protection for foreign business friends to invest and do business in China.
I would like to stress that China's economy has overcome challenges, moved forward steadily, and achieved high-quality development, which is also an inevitable requirement for promoting Chinese-style modernization. The starting point and end goal of Chinese-style modernization is to enable more than 1.4 billion Chinese people to live a better life. For the world, this means a broader market and unprecedented opportunities for cooperation, and it will also inject strong impetus into the modernization of the world.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,
The business community in the Asia-Pacific region has always been a trendsetter in Asia-Pacific cooperation and global development. I hope that everyone will carry forward the innovative spirit of "daring to be the first in the world" and make greater contributions to building an open Asia-Pacific economy and contributing to the development of the world economy. We welcome the global business community to actively participate in the process of Chinese-style modernization and share the huge opportunities brought by China's high-quality development!
Thank you.
Source: Xinhua News Agency
