Recently, a Belgian textile factory entrepreneur said in an interview with La Libre that Europe should “defend its own industry” and “cannot let China become the ‘world factory’ ”. We acknowledge that developing industry sectors that meet one’s own needs is European countries’ own choice, and no one should take objection on the issue. However, the argument of so called “world factory” is worth debating.

In fact, China has not deliberately pursued becoming “world factory”. Manufacturing and export accounting for a relatively large share of the whole GDP is the objective result of China’s integration into the world market since reform and opening up several decades ago. While China has achieved economic success through this development approach, it has also paid a huge price on resources utilization and the environment, as well as facing challenges with dependence on external supply of materials and reliance on the international market. At the same time, with the economy expanding, the national income per capita rising, more attention to the environment paid by Chinese government and Chinese people, and the changing of global economic environment, China has gradually realized that the traditional developing model is unsustainable and must seek high-quality development through structural transformation.

The Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held in October 2020 passed the “14th Five-Year Plan” outline, further emphasizing that China should accelerate the establishment of a “dual circulation” development pattern, with domestic cycle as the mainstay and the domestic and international economic cycle reinforcing each other. The plan sends a signal that China will continue to adjust its development pattern and build an economy driven by domestic demand as well as the integration of internal and external markets. China will pursue stimulating our economy through innovation, green sector and sustainable development rather than expanding the scale of exporting and manufacturing. In fact, China has continuously promoted the transformation of its development model since the financial crisis. The proportion of trade surplus in GDP has dropped from a historical high of 7% to 2.9% in 2019. The proportion of the service industry in GDP has continued to expand and reached 53.9% in 2019.

China has a population of 1.4 billion and a per capita GDP of more than USD 10,000, which means that it has one of the biggest and deepest domestic markets in the world. The transformation of the development model will bring more opportunities to the world. On the one hand, China’s domestic demand has become more important for its economy, which will drive the continuous expansion of import demand for high-quality products. China will also continue to expand its imports scale and open the door for “global buying” , so that the world can share the dividends of the Chinese market. If the products of Belgian textile company previously mentioned are favored by consumers, it is also welcome to enter the Chinese market. On the other hand, China’s shift to high-quality development means the transformation of its manufacturing industry will transform from “quantity priority” to “quality priority” through green transition, digitization, and innovation. During this process, European companies can give full play to their own advantages and achieve a key position in the industrial chain. The completion of the China-EU investment treaty negotiations by the end of 2020 is also expected to provide more market accessing for European companies to tap their full potential in the Chinese market.

China has always advocated mutual benefit and win-win cooperation in international relations. Facing profound changes unseen in a century and the huge crisis of the pandemic, China will provide “Chinese power” for the recovery and sustainable development of the world economy through more openness, inclusiveness, and with the spillover effects of its high-quality development.