Wu Guangqiang jw368@163.com CHINA hosted its third International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai from Nov. 5 to 10, which demonstrated China’s firm commitment to sharing the fruits of its robust economic growth with the rest of the world by importing increasing amounts of merchandise and services from abroad. In his keynote speech via video at the opening ceremony of the event, President Xi Jinping pledged some new measures for expanding all-round opening up. Xi declared that the Chinese market will be a shared global market benefiting all participants. Indeed, since China began to host CIIE in 2018, the event has become not only the symbol of China’s adherence to the policy of reform and opening up, but also a massive magnet for quality goods and services from all over the world. The increasing number of exhibitors and expanded demand for exhibition space well illustrated the event’s rapidly growing attraction for overseas businesses. The first CIIE covered an area of 180,000 square meters, attracting over 1,400 exhibitors. The exhibition space has doubled to 360,000 square meters for the third CIIE, with some new exhibiting sectors, including energy and chemicals, energy conservation and environmental protection, smart travel, public health care and nonbanking financial service, having been added. In the past, China has been well-known for its powerful export capability. China-made masks and PPE (personal protective equipment) are finding their ways to every corner of the world amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the distribution of which is an epitome of Chinese production prowess. Yet few people have realized that China’s appetite for imported goods and services is equally huge, and it is predicted that China will soon overtake the U.S. as the largest importer of merchandise and services, and the market size could be several times as large as the latter. It’s estimated that China will import goods and services worth over US$22 trillion in the coming 10 years thanks to its pro-free-trade policies and measures, fast-improving living standards with its middle-income population exceeding 400 million, and a flourishing Internet infrastructure. We may get a glimpse of China’s insatiable stomach for global goods, both cutting-edge high-tech products and daily supplies, through the following instances: A Chinese company purchased for 1.45 million euro (US$1.72 million) CIIE’s largest exhibit, the FOX-60 gantry machining center, which weighs a staggering 86.7 tons. It is a Spanish product. The German company Wirtgen, a world leader in making machines that recycle tar and grit from old roads to be repaved as smooth new ones, won contracts from numerous Chinese construction companies. GE’s 3-D CT machines equipped with AI technology shorten scanning time by 30 percent, thus greatly increasing the number of patients who can be served. Chinese hospitals need them in large quantities. A new type of glasses lens developed by a French company effectively controls the progress of nearsightedness. It will be great news for tens of millions of Chinese students, many of whom suffer from worsening eyesight. If high-end products satisfy China’s increasingly modernizing society, then numerous daily products are widely welcomed with their good designs, quality and unique features. Bosch’s home appliances sell like hot cakes, making China the company’s second-largest market after Bosch’s home country Germany. As expected, China will be its largest company by the end of this year. It had never occurred to Argentine beer brewer Rabi Eta that its craft beer would gain popularity in a huge country at the other side of the planet until they took a shot at CIIE. Now they have to work around the clock to turn out products to meet the surging sales in China. Service trade has an equally huge potential in Chinese market. Over 250 companies had booths at the expo promoting their business in finance, logistics, consulting, inspection and testing, and culture and tourism. With the growing influence of CIIE, more and more exhibitors are grabbing spaces for the next event! (The author is an English tutor and freelance writer.) | 