Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has, with tremendous political courage and wisdom, advanced comprehensive deepening of reform and opened up a brand-new situation in China's reform and opening up.

The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China scientifically laid out the overall plan for further comprehensively deepening reform around advancing Chinese modernization, and sounded the clarion call of the era to open up broad prospects for Chinese modernization through further comprehensive deepening of reform.

　　[Frontline Observations]

The tide surges on the Pearl River, and the winds stir across the Greater Bay Area. This fertile ground of reform and opening up is writing a new chapter of the era.

In the national new development pattern, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area holds an important strategic position.

Situated at the "intersection" of the "one country, two systems" rules and the "convergence point" of the domestic and international dual circulation, it possesses the unique nationwide advantage of connecting Hong Kong and Macao simultaneously by sea, land and bridge — Gongbei Customs is precisely an important window through which to feel the pulse of reform and opening up.

Gongbei Port connects Zhuhai and Macao. Macao resident Ms. Liang said: "Customs clearance is now very convenient; Macao residents traveling to and from Zhuhai for shopping or work is just like dropping by a neighbor's home." For 11 consecutive years, this has been the land passenger inspection port with the largest passenger flow in the country.

Hengqin Port faces Macao across the river and is linked by bridge and tunnel. Cross-border vehicle drivers can complete the collection of multiple pieces of information such as fingerprints, documents and body temperature in one go without getting out of their vehicles, with five law enforcement units from Guangdong and Macao respectively verifying the data, raising customs clearance efficiency by 40%.

At the Bridge Port, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge spans the three places. Kindergarten teacher Ms. Lin, who is clearing customs and comes from Hong Kong, drives to the mainland every week for shopping, tourism and savoring fine food. Daily average inbound and outbound passengers reach 70,000 person-times and vehicles 13,000 to 15,000 vehicle-times... Via the bridge, "two vehicles heading north" has become a new sight.

People travel smoothly, vehicles run smoothly, and goods flow smoothly. It is precisely the "precision efforts" of reform and innovation that enable "seamless" customs clearance for people while making regulatory services "omnipresent."

Among these are innovations in regulatory models — either piloting the joint inspection model of "one machine, two screens, one-pass inspection," or setting up "green channels" and using "cross-border one lock"; and smart creations supported by science and technology — either building a "monitoring-mobile-on-site" coordinated regulatory system, or pioneering nationwide the "Guangdong-Macao joint one-stop" inspection and release system for passenger and freight vehicles, cleverly resolving the difficulties of aligning rules and mechanisms between the two places...

In 2023, the total economic volume of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area exceeded 14 trillion yuan, making it one of the regions with the highest degree of openness and the strongest economic vitality in China.

From the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge in October 2018 to June this year, the total value of imports and exports through the Bridge Port exceeded 880 billion yuan, with the senders and receivers of goods covering the entire mainland and markets involving more than 230 countries and regions.

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "We should firmly believe that China's path of reform and opening up will surely succeed." Standing at the frontline of reform and opening up and personally experiencing Guangdong's role as the "vanguard, pioneer and experimental zone" of reform and opening up, one gains a deeper understanding of the General Secretary's words.

Further comprehensively deepening reform, the wind is right for hoisting the sails, and the journey ahead is bright as a rainbow.

　　[On-site Commentary]

Standing at the forefront of the times and following the general trend of history, China has continuously expanded opening up, developed itself, and injected new momentum into world economic development.

"Opening up is a distinctive hallmark of Chinese modernization." The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China made arrangements for improving the systems and mechanisms of high-standard opening up, declaring to the world China's firm determination to advance high-standard opening up and promote common development of the world.

Since last year, China has successively implemented unilateral visa-free policies on a trial basis for 15 countries including France and Germany, and newly added mutual visa exemption with 7 countries including Singapore and Thailand. In the first half of this year, foreign nationals entering China through ports nationwide totaled 14.635 million person-times, up 152.7% year on year. Among them, 8.542 million person-times entered visa-free, up 190.1% year on year.

In the first half of this year, China's total value of imports and exports of goods exceeded 21 trillion yuan for the first time, up 6.1% year on year, with the growth rate of imports and exports accelerating quarter by quarter; nearly 27,000 new foreign-invested enterprises were established nationwide, up 14.2% year on year, and the structure of foreign investment continued to optimize.

Today's China is steadily expanding institutional opening up in rules, regulations, management and standards, continuously fostering a first-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based and internationalized, accelerating the formation of a comprehensive opening pattern featuring the coordinated development of the land and sea, and mutual reinforcement between the east and the west, and promoting high-quality development through high-standard opening up.

Driven by scientific and technological innovation, opening up has a firmer footing. Shanghai Yangshan Customs has set up a centralized image review center in the Lingang area 40 kilometers from Yangshan Island, conducting remote "intelligent image review" of the X-ray inspection photos of collected containers, compressing the stay time of goods at the port to the greatest extent. Chongqing Customs has built a data governance platform that integrates data on customs clearance, logistics, processing trade and cross-border e-commerce within its jurisdiction, doubling the logistics turnover efficiency of enterprises. "Guarding the national gate and promoting development," General Secretary Xi Jinping requires customs to "build a solid barrier for national security and boost high-quality development and high-standard opening up." Empowering and improving efficiency through reform, advancing digital transformation and intelligent upgrading, the building of smart customs and the "Smart Customs, Strong Nation" initiative make customs "sharp-eyed and keen-eared," committed to solving the mandatory question of coordinating development and security.

Supported by regulatory and service innovation, opening up is more effective. Gongbei Customs has innovated the "four ones" regulatory concept and built a "five-dimensional integrated" regulatory model of classification, risk, credit, coordination and intelligence, helping the Hengqin Cooperation Zone enter a fast track of development. The Lingang New Area of the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone recently launched a comprehensive "going global" service platform, providing one-stop, integrated and efficient services for enterprises "going global." Shandong has actively built major international logistics corridors, vigorously promoted the coordinated innovation of free trade zones, and deeply integrated into high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. Practice shows that it is precisely by virtue of bold and pioneering innovative measures that the bottlenecks and blockages of the domestic and international dual circulation are cleared, the endogenous driving force of high-standard opening up is continuously stimulated, and surging momentum is injected into high-quality development.

Led by institutional opening up, opening up is at a higher level. The Special Administrative Measures for Cross-Border Trade in Services (Negative List) (2024 Edition) was released, establishing a negative list management system for cross-border trade in services nationwide for the first time. With institutional opening up as the focus, high-standard financial opening up is being advanced to improve the efficiency and capacity of China's financial resource allocation and enhance international competitiveness and rule influence. Beijing has deepened the building of the national comprehensive demonstration zone for expanding the opening up of the services sector, proactively benchmarking against the World Bank's new business environment assessment system, and further polishing the "Beijing Services" brand. As a higher-level form of opening up, the steady expansion of institutional opening up not only helps build a new system of a higher-standard open economy, but also becomes an effective institutional path for China to participate in global economic governance.

General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "China's door of opening up will only open wider and wider, and will never be closed." Optimizing the regional opening layout, advancing the building of pilot free trade zones in a coordinated manner, building the Hainan Free Trade Port with high quality, and hosting the China International Import Expo, the China International Fair for Trade in Services, the China International Consumer Products Expo, and the China International Supply Chain Expo... China's opening up presents the distinctive features of in-depth advancement in all directions, at multiple levels and in a wide range of fields.

Opening up is the inevitable path to development and progress. Adhering to the basic state policy of opening up and promoting reform through opening up, China with high-standard opening up will surely win advantages, win the initiative and win the future, and continuously bring new impetus and new opportunities to the world with its own new development.