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Opening-up not Bargaining Chip

Feb 05-2021   



Pudong New Area, the beachhead of Shanghai’s opening-up, has just celebrated its 30-year accomplishments. One inspiration of its storied history is that opening-up should not be used as a bargaining chip; this is also true of China’s experience, said Prof. Zhou Qiren of the NSD in a recent media interview.

 

Learning from Singapore, China initiated opening-up in late 1970s in the conviction that it was beneficial to do so. Such unilateral opening-up, without pressing other countries to agree to any conditions, afforded China with opportunities. Championed by small nations like Singapore, ‘opening-up on one’s own initiative’ has proved to be superior to the mutual-benefit systems advocated by the US. The latter inevitably confounds politics, diplomacy, ideology and trade, thus adding to market uncertainties and transactional costs. Therefore, globalization should get rid of the mutual-benefit framework invented by the US.

 

For Shanghai to become an outstanding global city, it needs to offer high-quality services to more industries and enterprises in a wider geographical reach. Shanghai Port has long had the largest container volume in the world but it still lags behind London in port-related financial services. This shows that Shanghai can do more in opening-up to realize its potential as an international cosmopolitan.

 

In 2020, foreign direct investment totaled USD20 billion in Shanghai, pointing to the rising allure of the city to foreign investors. One high-flying case is Tesla, which began mass production in Shanghai within a year of setting up shop. Globalization has been blighted on national level but remained resilient on market and industrial levels, said Prof. Zhou.

 

Shanghai aims to become an important link of the dual-circulation. Only when Shanghai makes an imprint on global business, finance, logistics, technology and culture will this become true. Sometimes such imprints might be invisible but the impact must be substantial - disruptions to Shanghai’s services can palpably result in malfunctioning in other regions.

 

Opening-up not Bargaining Chip

Feb 05-2021   



Pudong New Area, the beachhead of Shanghai’s opening-up, has just celebrated its 30-year accomplishments. One inspiration of its storied history is that opening-up should not be used as a bargaining chip; this is also true of China’s experience, said Prof. Zhou Qiren of the NSD in a recent media interview.

 

Learning from Singapore, China initiated opening-up in late 1970s in the conviction that it was beneficial to do so. Such unilateral opening-up, without pressing other countries to agree to any conditions, afforded China with opportunities. Championed by small nations like Singapore, ‘opening-up on one’s own initiative’ has proved to be superior to the mutual-benefit systems advocated by the US. The latter inevitably confounds politics, diplomacy, ideology and trade, thus adding to market uncertainties and transactional costs. Therefore, globalization should get rid of the mutual-benefit framework invented by the US.

 

For Shanghai to become an outstanding global city, it needs to offer high-quality services to more industries and enterprises in a wider geographical reach. Shanghai Port has long had the largest container volume in the world but it still lags behind London in port-related financial services. This shows that Shanghai can do more in opening-up to realize its potential as an international cosmopolitan.

 

In 2020, foreign direct investment totaled USD20 billion in Shanghai, pointing to the rising allure of the city to foreign investors. One high-flying case is Tesla, which began mass production in Shanghai within a year of setting up shop. Globalization has been blighted on national level but remained resilient on market and industrial levels, said Prof. Zhou.

 

Shanghai aims to become an important link of the dual-circulation. Only when Shanghai makes an imprint on global business, finance, logistics, technology and culture will this become true. Sometimes such imprints might be invisible but the impact must be substantial - disruptions to Shanghai’s services can palpably result in malfunctioning in other regions.