Box 4: Progress in the BRI

  6) China made solid progress in developing as a trader of quality.

We successfully hosted the first China International Import Expo, an event which has shown to the world China’s determination to continue opening its market and promote economic globalization. We stepped up negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, signed an upgraded free trade agreement (FTA) with Singapore, and completed FTA negotiations with Mauritius. With this, China has further strengthened its bilateral and multilateral economic and trade cooperation, and signed a total of 17 FTAs with 25 countries and regions.

We adopted 53 measures to deepen reform and promote innovation in pilot free trade zones, and applied 30 practices developed from trial reforms in pilot free trade zones across the country. We began work on building China (Hainan) Pilot Free Trade Zone, and carried out exploratory work on setting up free trade ports with Chinese features. We built more integrated experimental zones for cross-border e-commerce, improved retail import supervision and taxation policies on cross-border e-commerce, and expanded the scope of trials on market procurement trade. These steps have helped support the vigorous development of new forms and models of trade such as cross-border e-commerce and market procurement trade. We lowered China’s overall tariff level from 9.8% to 7.5% and worked to balance China’s foreign trade by actively expanding imports. The diversity of China’s market grew continuously. The total value of imported and exported goods for the year stood at 30.51 trillion yuan, an increase of 9.7%.

  7) The foreign investment environment was continuously improved.

Restrictions on market access were relaxed across the board. Two editions of the 2018 negative list for foreign investment were published, one for the whole country and the other for pilot free trade zones. The number of special administrative measures applying in each case has been reduced to 48 and 45 respectively. Steady progress was made in opening up the financial sector. We instituted a nationwide policy of allowing foreign-invested enterprises to complete business filing procedures and business registration in one go. We took active steps to promote equal treatment of domestic and foreign enterprises in terms of industrial policy, science and technology policy, government procurement, license applications, and standards-setting. Reform and innovation-driven development in development zones were stepped up, and the business environment for foreign investors continued to improve. China attracted around US$ 135 billion in foreign direct investment over the year, an increase of 3%.

  8) Development of outward investment was steady and orderly.

The Management Provisions for Outward Investment by Enterprises and the Interim Measures for Reporting on the Registration (Approval) of Outward Investment were put into force. We enhanced unified supervision over outward investment at all stages and further improved the sectorial composition of outward investments, with the bulk flowing into leasing, business services, and manufacturing. To enhance the awareness of enterprises about compliance, we published the Guide on Compliance Management for Enterprises’ Overseas Operations. We provided guidance to see the sound development of outward investment and financing funds, thus expanding the channels through which enterprises can seek financing for their “go-global” efforts. Non-financial outward direct investment reached US$ 120.5 billion in 2018.

  6. We put strong focus on implementing the rural revitalization strategy and moved faster to foster new growth drivers for agricultural and rural development.

The Strategic Plan for Rural Revitalization (2018-2022) was issued for implementation. A total of 28 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) have already published complimentary plans. In addition, plans for all others have been basically completed, and work on rolling separate village development plans into one single plan has continued. The institutional framework and policy system for rural revitalization have been gradually established and all major work planned for the current stage has begun.

  1) The foundations of agriculture grew stronger.

Total grain output exceeded 650 million metric tons. Efficient water-saving irrigation methods were newly applied to 1.44 million hectares of land. The area of high-standard cropland was increased by over 5.33 million hectares. We have established functional zones for grain production and protective areas for the production of major agricultural products on an area of over 60 million hectares. We stepped up the initiative to upgrade the modern seed industry, ensured high standards were adopted in the building of the Nanfan National Seed Breeding Base, and sped up construction on seed and seedling breeding bases for grain and oil-bearing crops, vegetables, and fruits.

Work has begun on 133 of 172 planned major water conservancy projects, with the total investment in ongoing projects exceeding 1 trillion yuan. A total of 15.6 million hectares of land were afforested throughout the year. The Year of Agricultural Quality campaign was carried out to spur agricultural development by raising quality standards, promoting green development, and building strong brands. The percentage of major agricultural products that passed quality and safety tests remained above 97%, and the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides both decreased.

  2) Development of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries was much more integrated in rural areas.

A total of 100 demonstration parks for rural industry integration have so far been certified, and work started on building 62 modern agricultural industrial parks and 254 towns with agricultural strengths. We continued promoting complete mechanization of the production process for major crops. We also concentrated on developing intelligent agriculture, boosting the levels of digitization in agricultural production, operations, management, and services. New industries and new forms of business in rural areas enjoyed rapid development.

  3) Agricultural and rural reforms registered steady progress.

We made improvements to the policy on setting minimum purchase prices for wheat and rice and to the mechanism for combining market-based purchases with government subsidies for corn and soybeans. Well-planned steps were taken to push forward with trial reforms on rural land requisition, the marketization of rural collective land designated for business-related construction, and the system for rural land designated for housing. We stepped up work to determine, register, and certify rural home land rights and rural housing property rights, and basically completed the work to determine, register, and certify contracted rural land rights. Rights on 986.7 million hectares of contracted land have been certified, exceeding the cadastral area covered during the second round of household land contracting in rural areas. We have set up robust mechanisms for former rural residents who now hold urban residency to protect their rights on contracted rural land, use rights on rural land designated for housing, and rights to share in the proceeds from rural collective undertakings, as well as their entitlement to voluntarily transfer these rights in return for compensation. The third batch of trials to reform the rural collective property rights system began in 150 counties in 50 prefectures and cities and in 3 provinces. To date this reform has been completed by over 150,000 rural collectives nationwide and has involved more than 200 million people. Reform of collective forest tenure was furthered.

  4) Work on building a beautiful and livable countryside picked up pace.

The three-year campaign to improve rural living environments got underway across the country. We steadily moved forward pilot demonstration programs to comprehensively address serious environmental problems and demonstrations to treat household wastewater in rural areas. The project to manage household refuse was extended to more rural areas and the Toilet Revolution was actively carried forward. We stepped up efforts to consolidate and build on the progress made in providing safe drinking water, and increased the availability of tap water in rural areas. More rural roads were built. We successfully concluded the projects to provide power to all electric pump sets on rural flatlands, to upgrade power grids in small towns and hub villages, and to provide three-phase power to poor villages. We carried out trials of providing universal telecommunications services and demonstration projects to extend broadband connectivity, and particularly to install 100M fiber optic networks in rural areas, and moved faster to build next-generation information infrastructure there. The orderly development of multipurpose cultural service centers in rural areas continued.

  7. We took holistic steps to promote coordinated regional development and saw further improvements in spatial development patterns.

We gave play to the comparative advantages of different regions, worked on narrowing regional development disparities, and focused on promoting new urbanization. Stronger levels of coordination, connectivity, and integration were achieved in development between regions.

  1) Further strides were made in promoting coordinated regional development.

The Guidelines on Establishing More Effective New Mechanisms for Coordinated Regional Development were released. To promote further development and opening up in the western region, we launched 28 major projects in transportation, energy, and other fields with a total investment of 482.5 billion yuan. In the northeast, breakthroughs were made in improving the business environment, developing the private sector, and promoting cooperative partnerships with the eastern region; steady progress was made in the transformation of old industrial cities and resource-dependent areas; efforts were continued to rebuild or relocate old industrial districts within cities and independent industrial and mining areas and to implement comprehensive solutions in areas affected by mining-induced subsidence. In the central region, we moved faster to achieve a rational distribution of advanced manufacturing, and began to implement development plans for the Han and Huai river eco-economic belts and the general plan for industrial relocation demonstration zones in southern and western Hunan. The eastern region moved faster to foster and strengthen new growth drivers; in Shandong, work began on a comprehensive experimental zone for replacing old growth drivers with new ones.

Old revolutionary base areas, areas with large ethnic minority populations, border areas, and poor areas all recorded faster development, achieving solid progress in constructing major infrastructure such as transportation, water conservancy, energy, communications, and logistics facilities. We scaled up one-to-one assistance programs, and further improved economic and social policies and measures in Xinjiang, Tibet, and the Tibetan ethnic areas in Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu, and Qinghai provinces.

We took faster steps toward building China into a strong maritime country, with construction beginning on demonstration zones for developing the marine economy. Many functional platforms, such as state-level new areas, airport economy demonstration zones, and experimental zones for integrated, complete reform, strengthened their ability to demonstrate and offer guidance on reform practices. Steady progress was made in the construction of experimental zones for development and opening up in major border areas, giving rise to a set of practices applicable to other areas.

  2) Strong progress was recorded in implementing major regional development strategies.

With the focus on relieving Beijing of functions nonessential to its role as the capital, we made marked progress in promoting the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. The Plan for Xiongan New Area in Hebei, the Guidelines on Supporting Xiongan New Area in Comprehensively Deepening Reform and Opening up, and the General Plan for Xiongan New Area in Hebei (2018-2035) were unveiled for implementation. We sped up the development of the administrative center of Beijing Municipality, began construction on the Beijing-Xiongan Intercity Railway, and made progress on all fronts in building Beijing Daxing International Airport and preparing for its operation.

On the Yangtze Economic Belt, the pattern of close coordination on environmental protection was consolidated. We began formulating a territorial space plan, and made solid progress in employing the three-fold approach of controlling water pollution, restoring water ecosystems, and conserving water resources and in addressing four kinds of behaviors detrimental to environmental protection on rivers and lakes. Rectification work was completed on 1,361 illegal wharves, and the cross-section water quality of the main stream of the Yangtze River improved significantly. Work on the integrated multidimensional transportation corridor was stepped up. We made good progress in planning and building a high-speed railway along the Yangtze River, accelerating work on the unfinished sections of inter-provincial expressways, constructing a deepwater channel on the Yangtze, and installing combined rail-water transportation facilities at ports along its main channel.