Accompanied by German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, Chinese president Xi Jinping visited the Port of Duisburg on March 29, welcoming the arrival of a freight train from Chongqing in China. Put into operation in June 2011, this rail link will serve as a conduit for products traveling between China and Germany, but it also has more profound significance.

Reform is strengthening, and opening up is continuing. China is the world No. 1 in import and export volumes; China is the biggest trade partner of more than 120 countries. Since joining the WTO, China’s open economy has played a decisive role in the international arena.

Some of China’s coastal areas are taking the lead in opening up, others are advancing policies of reform; here China sets up a free trade zone in Shanghai, there China plans to establish a unified and open market system. Experience demonstrates that more connections between China and the world will stimulate China’s development, and that tighter connections between China and the world will lead to more economic opportunities being shared.

Compared with China’s coastal areas, central and western areas are still lagging behind in foreign trade and investment. But this also means that there is still significant potential for China in opening up new areas. A series of visions have been proposed - the Silk Road economic belt, the 21st century maritime Silk Road, the BCIM Economic Corridor, and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor… China is now foreseeing a larger, broader, and deeper network of open economic activity.

Xi made a speech in Germany expressing the hope that China-Germany cooperation in manufacturing will create more high-quality products and bring better life to the people of both countries, and that closer cooperation between China and Germany will provide a greater contribution to economic growth, both for the two countries themselves and for the wider world.

The article is edited and translated from 《让开放创造更多共赢》, source: People's Daily, author: Cao Pengcheng