2025-10-22 China Every day Editor：Zhao Li
The tariff wars launched by some economies are destabilizing the rules-based multilateral buying and selling system and difficult the resilience of worldwide trade and provide chains. At this important juncture, China is exhibiting strategic foresight, pioneering a brand new path by advancing high-standard opening-up by the event of “new high quality productive forces”. This isn’t merely a short lived response however a strategic transfer to boost competitiveness.
The present realignment of worldwide trade and provide chains is the results of the convergence of long-term developments and short-term disruptions. Technological developments and the digital economic system have decreased cross-border transaction prices, but they haven’t been capable of finish the protectionism that emerged within the aftermath of the 2008 world monetary disaster.
In response to home de-industrialization, some developed nations are resorting to “re-shoring, friend-shoring” and “near-shoring”, prioritizing safety and resilience over effectivity, limiting the attain of provide chains and organizations. This shift poses challenges particularly to China.
Traditionally excluded from the equitable world division of labor, growing nations now face commerce sanctions and tech containment, geared toward curbing their industrial upgrading.
As conventional price benefits wane, China should leverage its human capital dividend to climb up the worldwide worth chain. China’s huge home market, complete industrial system, and rising innovation capability present a strong basis for its economic system’s transformation.
Actually, exterior pressures and inside imperatives have prompted China to forge a brand new path: from passive integration into globalization to actively shaping world commerce, utilizing high-standard opening-up to beat uncertainty and industrial upgrading to keep up stability.
In response to the worldwide pattern of provide chain fragmentation, China is pursuing a twin technique that kinds the cornerstone of its high-quality growth and world financial management. This method combines deepening regional integration with a push for tech-driven development. A key pillar of China’s technique is to foster tighter regional manufacturing networks, as exemplified by the Belt and Street Initiative and the Regional Complete Financial Partnership.
Within the 12 years because it was proposed, the Belt and Street Initiative has developed from a imaginative and prescient to a complete commerce promotion and infrastructure growth program. By means of coverage coordination, infrastructure connectivity, commerce facilitation, monetary integration and people-to-people ties, China has strengthened financial hyperlinks with companion nations.
The deepening financial integration is mirrored in commerce figures: China’s commerce with Belt and Street companion nations reached 22.07 trillion yuan ($3.09 trillion) in 2024, accounting for greater than half of its whole commerce for the primary time, and additional elevated to 51.7 % within the first three quarters of 2025.
However, the RCEP gives institutional underpinning for regional integration, with its cumulative guidelines of origin streamlining regional provide chains by worth addition throughout all 15 RCEP member economies. Preferential tariffs have decreased transaction prices and fostered intra-regional commerce in intermediate items, establishing the RCEP bloc as a “protected harbor” amid world commerce volatility.
China’s exports are present process a elementary shift from labor-intensive manufacturing of products to technology-driven merchandise, led by the “new three” — electrical autos, lithium batteries, and photo voltaic photovoltaic merchandise. In 2024, China produced and bought 12.88 million and 12.86 million new vitality autos respectively, each highest on the earth.
Additionally, China equipped 70 % of worldwide cathode supplies and 60 % of worldwide lithium-ion batteries in 2024, due to its full provide chain. The export of China’s photo voltaic photovoltaic merchandise has exceeded 200 billion yuan for 4 consecutive years, whereas lithium battery exports hit a file 3.91 billion models in 2024.
This success stems from sustained innovation. BYD’s factories, empowered by 5G and synthetic intelligence (AI), use real-time information screens and augmented actuality (AR) helmets for precision meeting, showcasing the usage of new high quality productive forces.
New high quality productive forces are the engine of China’s technological and regional progress. This superior, innovation-driven mannequin strikes past conventional development, exhibiting find out how to leapfrog the “comparative benefit entice” and problem superior economies within the area of know-how.
Digitalization and inexperienced transition are the core pillars of latest high quality productive forces, powering each China’s “dual-circulation” technique and innovation functionality. As a matter of truth, by intensifying R&D, this mannequin unlocks a brand new growth blueprint for the World South.
New high quality productive forces are accelerating China’s opening-up and structural transformation by two key drivers: technological upgrading and twin transformation. China is constructing first-mover benefits in future industries like AI, hydrogen vitality, and bio-breeding. It’s also advancing its digital transformation — utilizing AI and massive information to optimize manufacturing — together with inexperienced transition, with a view to meet its local weather targets and overcome rising inexperienced commerce boundaries.
To translate strategic benefits into sustained competitiveness, nonetheless, China has to systematically intensify its institutional opening-up, enhance its innovation functionality, and make its provide chain extra resilient. It additionally must proceed aligning with high-standard worldwide guidelines, which it has been doing by, for instance, taking measures to affix the Complete and Progressive Settlement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Digital Economic system Partnership Settlement.
In fields the place it already leads — reminiscent of cross-border e-commerce — China must strengthen customs supervision and rail transport. And in rising areas like digital commerce, information flows, and AI, China must make efforts to assist form new guidelines, thereby influencing the longer term world governance framework.
Furthermore, amid the Fourth Industrial Revolution, China wants to spice up R&D in strategic sectors reminiscent of semiconductors, hydrogen vitality, biotechnology, and low-carbon methods, whereas in accordance precedence to the combination of digital and industrial applied sciences, and nurturing rising industries like bio-manufacturing.
Boosting home capabilities and deepening world integration are needed for China to mitigate exterior shocks. Equally, sustained coverage help, a good enterprise surroundings, and strengthened worldwide cooperation on provide chain governance are important for China to keep up stability and promote shared prosperity.
