CGTN: How China's high-standard opening up fuels high-quality development
BEIJING, Nov. 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Following President Xi Jinping's visits to Hainan and Guangdong, CGTN published an article on China's strategic priorities of high-standard opening up to drive high-quality growth. The piece outlines how this national vision is advanced through the examples of Guangdong as a pacesetter, pioneer and pilot zone, and Hainan Free Trade Port as a hub for global opportunities.
As China's 14th Five-Year Plan (FYP) covering the period 2021-2025 is nearing its end and the country prepares to unveil the blueprint for its 15th FYP, one message is clear: opening up remains at the heart of China's modernization drive.
During recent trips to Hainan Province and Guangdong Province, two frontiers of reform and opening up, Chinese President Xi Jinping laid out his vision for high-standard opening up as the pathway to achieving high-quality development.
Hainan: A gateway for a new era
On December 18, the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) will officially launch island-wide special customs operations, a move Xi described as "a landmark of China's unwavering expansion of high-standard opening up and its contribution to an open world economy."
When hearing a work report in Sanya City on the building of the Hainan FTP, Xi emphasized that the FTP supports both Hainan's high-quality growth and China's broader new development paradigm. He called for institutional opening up, more open talent systems, and administrative reform to build a market-oriented, law-based and internationalized business environment.
Since 2018, Hainan has identified over 70,000 high-level professionals. It also issued more than 80 local laws and regulations to enhance its business environment. Its four pillar industries: tourism, modern services, high-tech and tropical agriculture, now account for nearly 70 percent of GDP.
Hainan's opening up also benefits global trade. The new Yangpu–Chancay shipping route enables Hainan tilapia to reach South America faster and Peruvian avocados to enter China fresher and cheaper. Multi-functional free trade accounts (EF accounts) further facilitate cross-border settlements. According to Kuang Xianming, vice president of the China Institute for Reform and Development, the upcoming customs operation will also strengthen Hainan as a strategic hub for China–ASEAN cooperation.
Guangdong: Pioneer and pacesetter of reform and opening up
Choosing Guangdong Province for his first domestic inspection after the fourth plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, Xi underscored Guangdong's role as a pacesetter, pioneer and pilot zone of reform and opening up, noting that the province should take the lead, set an example and play a major role in shaping the 15th FYP for national economic and social development.
He called on the southern province to comprehensively deepen reform and opening up for high-quality development, and to advance the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) with sustained efforts.
He also called on the province to develop new quality productive forces, strengthen the integration of technological and industrial innovation, and build a modern industrial system with international competitiveness.
Guangdong's economic dynamism underscores this vision. In 2024, Guangdong's foreign trade reached 9.11 trillion yuan ($1.3 trillion), up 9.8 percent, contributing nearly 39 percent of China's overall trade growth. From January to September, 24,000 new foreign-funded enterprises were established, up 33.7 percent year on year, bringing the total to over 360,000, with more than $600 billion in utilized foreign capital.
At the 2024 Global Investment Promotion Conference for Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, global giants such as BASF, ExxonMobil, Pfizer, Panasonic, Tesla and Procter & Gamble signed 1,933 projects worth 2.26 trillion yuan, underscoring the GBA's attractiveness to global investors.
With the 15th FYP on the horizon, China is once again demonstrating that reform and opening up are not just policies of the past–they are the enduring engines of its future.
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