On August 27, 2020 local time, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide of Norway jointly met the press in Oslo. A journalist asked that due to the COVID-19, the world economy is in deep recession, and unilateralism and protectionism becomes increasingly prevalent. Will this impact on China's opening-up policies?

Wang Yi said, opening-up makes for progress while enclosure leads to backwardness. This is a truth from the 40 years of China's reform and opening-up. Over the past 40 years, China has developed with the world through opening-up, and benefited the world in return. Today, China has more than fulfilled its WTO commitments, and reduced the average tariff rate to 7.5 percent, exceeding all other major developing countries and approaching the level of developed countries. On the business environment, China has become one of the best-performing economies in the improvement of its business environment for two consecutive years. China's opening-up and development has offered enormous business opportunities and development benefits for all countries, including Norway, and made significant and irreplaceable contributions to the world economic growth.

Wang Yi said, today, with the impact of the pandemic, China and the world are facing a new situation and entering a new stage of development. A few days ago, President Xi Jinping delivered a very important speech on China's economic development and opening-up. He said, China will form a new development pattern that takes the domestic market as the mainstay and allows the domestic and foreign markets to boost each other. China will raise the level of opening-up in an all-around way, and build a new system of open economy with a higher level. In the face of the impact of the COVID-19 and sluggish world economy, China's door of opening up will not be closed and will only be opened even wider. Through deeper reforms, lower tariffs, shorter negative lists, more convenient market access, more transparent market rules and a more attractive business environment, the Chinese side will link its domestic market, the world's largest one, with the global market more closely to achieve a virtuous cycle, which will be larger, more efficient and more dynamic, and mutual development between the two markets, and create wider development space and more opportunities for China itself and other countries around the world.

Wang Yi expressed, in the new round of China's opening-up, the Chinese side welcomes the active participation of European countries including Norway. Both sides need to continuously enhance two-way opening-up and cooperation in such fields as trade, investment and industry, so as to jointly provide strong and lasting impetus for respective development and prosperity and the global economic recovery.