China's participation in the international cycle of the traditional model is facing a big test

"With the improvement of China's development level and the expansion of its economic aggregate, China's traditional model of participating in the international cycle, which has been very effective and made great contributions, will face more and more challenges and pressure." Zhang Junguo, deputy director of the Development Research Centre of the State Council, gave a warning at the fifth annual meeting of the National Development Forum. He said that the changes in the development stage have also formed China's huge and unique internal development advantages and potential, providing favorable conditions for responding to challenges, while also requiring China to step up efforts to give full play to its potential.

Zhang said that with the process of reform and opening up, China has gradually formed the basic mode of participating in the international cycle. This mode has two basic features. From the supply side, it constantly improves its own technical level through the introduction, digestion and absorption of foreign advanced technologies, and establishes China's industrial system based on the availability of foreign technologies, equipment and products. From the perspective of demand, by virtue of superior combination of factors and unique institutional environment, Chinese enterprises have been constantly improving product quality and reducing costs. As a result, The export competitiveness of Chinese products has been continuously improved and its share in the world market has been increasingly expanded.

"The above model of participating in the international cycle adapted to the domestic and international development conditions and environment at that time, and played a huge role in promoting the rapid development and progress of China's economy. However, with the improvement of China's development level and the change of development stage, we are facing more and more challenges." On the one hand, traditional technological progress and ways of foreign cooperation are under pressure to adjust, Zhang said. In the past, there was a big gap between China's technological level and advanced technology, and the introduction, digestion and absorption of foreign technology would not form a competitive relationship with the products of developed countries, but a community relationship of interests between upstream and downstream. However, when China's technological level and product quality are significantly improved, especially when some aspects are in a relatively leading position, many products begin to form a competitive relationship with products from developed countries, and contradictions and frictions will follow. On the other hand, China's exports are facing increasing pressure. The increase of export share is bound to be accompanied by the adjustment and change of international competition pattern. The competitiveness of some industries and enterprises among countries will rise and fall, and even some industries and enterprises will shrink in competition or be eliminated by the market. The impact of this situation is not obvious at the early stage of China's development, but when China reaches the second largest economy in the world and continues to grow at a relatively fast rate, China will face increasing international pressure and more and more contradictions and conflicts.

However, the improvement of China's development level and the changes in its development stage have also created new advantages and potentials for development, thus creating favorable conditions for overcoming challenges and maintaining sustainable economic development. Zhang Jun says, our country has a lot of unique factor supply and combination advantage. , for example, elements from the labor supply, labor resources in China is not only large number, type and diversity, both the mass of ordinary workers, also has a large number of high-quality workforce, and high cost performance, is helpful to form a relatively complete industrial system, and form a competitive advantage in the different level of industry.

At present, China is the only country in the world with 41 industrial categories, 207 industrial medium categories and 666 industrial sub-categories listed in the United Nations industrial Classification. From January to September this year, the industrial added value above designated scale increased by 1.2% year on year, among which the third quarter increased by 5.8%, showing a trend of recovery quarter by quarter.

"China's comprehensive manufacturing system and production capacity make it uniquely resilient to changes in market demand and capable of supporting technological and industrial innovation and transformation." Zhang cited the example of a company that switched to making masks in the early days of the epidemic. The mask machine was manufactured in ten days and mass production was carried out rapidly. In 39 days, 96 equipment were put into production. By early April, the daily production capacity of 15 million pieces had been reached. In his opinion, the ability of the above enterprises to respond to market demand so quickly is not only based on their internal accumulated capabilities and advantages, but also closely related to China's overall industrial supporting capacity.

"From the perspective of long-term development, China must strengthen independent innovation and key breakthroughs in key core technologies, and focus on solving the problem that core technologies, core equipment and key components are under the control of others." However, it must also be made clear that independent innovation and concentrated tackling of key problems do not mean pursuing innovation behind closed doors, zhang said, but open innovation, mainly based on China's full absorption and utilization of international resources, is to gain advantages in a number of important key core technologies under the premise of giving full play to China's foundation and advantages.