Recently, Yu Miaojie, President of Liaoning University and a Fellow of the Royal Economic Society, was interviewed by CGTN on world openness and China’s opening-up strategy. The interview is presented bellow:
Host: Joining us via Zoom is Professor Yu Miaojie, a Fellow of the Royal Economic Society and President of Liaoning University. Today, Professor Yu was on the panel at the launch of the World Openness Report 2026 in Shanghai, alongside international organization representatives, government officials and business leaders. Professor Yu, welcome to China 24. My first question for you is this: The World Openness Report 2026 presents a striking paradox. The world’s overall openness index has fallen by its largest margin in nearly a decade. Emerging and developing economies, including China, have moved in the opposite direction. From your point of view, what does this tell us about where momentum for openness lies?
Yu Miaojie: Thank you. It's an honor to be here. I would like to highlight three points. Number one, global openness is still a very important trend. If you look at the data, although this year’s openness index has declined compared to last year, if you compare the data with that from two decades ago, you will see a very clear upward trend. What I want to say is that we are still in an era of openness. Number two, it is very clear that companies also face some challenges. These are related to protectionism and opposition to opening up. For example, some countries have imposed high tariffs on other countries. If you look at the United States, its average import tariff has increased from 3.5% a decade ago to almost 15% this year. Because of these increasing tariffs and other non-tariff barriers, global openness faces some challenges. Number three, a very important observation is that China plays a significant role. China is the most important trading country. Last year, China's total foreign trade reached 45 trillion RMB. China is certainly an open country in the world. Because of this, China contributes about 30% to world openness. These are my observations.
Host: We’ve seen the discussion of the report in Shanghai emphasizing accessible openness, not just openness in principle. For global companies looking at China today, where are the opportunities and how can they be accessed?
Yu Miaojie: Absolutely. China's opportunities come from a very important and fundamental economic principle—opening up. If you look at the government report, the idea is that opening up to the world is a path we must follow. This is part of China's new development philosophy. Based on this, China also has at least four significant advantages. Number one, we have a very large domestic market, perhaps the largest market in the world. Number two, China has a complete industrial and supply chain. This is very important and ensures that China is able to produce a lot of high-quality products. Number three is talent. We have a huge talent pool, and there are many young people. They have received good training and are able to produce a lot of high-quality products. Number four is that government efficiency is also very high. You can see that policies can be implemented smoothly and quickly. These are the opportunities China offers.
Host: The World Openness Report 2026 also says that unilateralist and protectionist measures are a major obstacle to openness. How can we continue to open up? How can global businesses and economies jointly pursue openness and cooperation, and what concrete steps are most critical to turning that vision into reality?
Yu Miaojie: I think that we should promote global trade on a larger scale, in broader areas and at a deeper level. I think six steps are crucial. First, we should make export destinations more diversified and simultaneously diversify import sources and regions as well. We should trade more products with more economies. Second, in addition to trade in goods, we need to boost trade in services. We should increase its scale. This year, China's trade in services amounts to only one trillion USD, compared to 2.15 trillion USD in the United States. There is still a gap. We also need to reduce the deficit. Unlike trade in goods, we have a huge deficit in trade in services, particularly in transportation and tourism. We need to reduce the deficit and find our comparative advantages. Number three is FDI. We welcome more FDI, particularly by integrating FDI with industrial clusters. Number four, we will encourage Chinese firms to invest abroad, especially in small but beautiful projects. We should not only create opportunities for others but also bring technology to them. This is what we call "small and beautiful" projects. Number five, we should keep working on Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects. If you look at the data, you can see that although overall trade openness has declined, openness among BRI countries has increased over the years. We should keep working on this, which will bring mutual benefits to all BRI countries. Finally, we will actively engage in regional trade agreements, particularly the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). I see more countries getting involved in these initiatives, and I think these countries can benefit from China’s opening up. Thank you.
Host: Thank you, Professor Yu Miaojie, a Fellow of the Royal Economic Society and President of Liaoning University. Great to have your insights.
Watch the full interview here:
https://www.cgtn.com/tv/replay?id=DFCaJAA (13’37’’—21’15’’)
