By Guo Jiping, People’s Daily

The 9th China International Import Expo (CIIE) opens in Shanghai on Nov. 5 and will run through Nov. 10.

This year’s exhibition space exceeds 370,000 square meters for the first time, drawing participants from 162 countries, regions, and international organizations. More than 4,100 overseas companies are participating, and over 480 products are expected to make their debut at the expo, hitting a record high.

At a time when unilateralism and protectionism continue to disrupt the international economic and trade order, the CIIE, now in its ninth consecutive year, has become an irreplaceable international public good in the global economic and trade system.

A closer look at the exhibition layout of the 9th CIIE reveals six major exhibition areas and an Innovation Incubation Special Section, each with its own highlights.

Pavilions dedicated to medical equipment and health care products, consumer goods, and food and agricultural products have all been expanded. More than 2,000 companies are participating in the event for the first time.

Among the newcomers are the U.S.-based Project Management Institute and Germany’s Caparol, a leading producer of architectural coatings.

For the first time, the CIIE will feature a global consumer brands showcase to help expand and upgrade consumption of quality products.

“The CIIE stands as a clear demonstration of China’s commitment to expand opening up,” said Carl Fey, professor of strategy at BI Norwegian Business School. As he has observed, China’s opening up is geared toward pursuing shared development with the rest of the world, and the CIIE highlights China’s key role in global trade.

Over the years, the range of exhibits at the CIIE has expanded from consumer goods and components to high-end equipment, core technologies, and quality services.

This evolution reflects the deeper integration of global industrial and supply chains. Today, exhibitors, including industry giants, emerging players, small and medium-sized enterprises, and specialized businesses, can all connect with market demand more precisely and explore growth opportunities across the entire industrial chain.

The CIIE is increasingly attracting international buyers. Ahead of this year’s event, trade delegations from Shanghai, Guangdong, and other regions secured a number of major buyers with strong purchasing power, well-established brands, and substantial demand.

Dedicated matchmaking events were held in Egypt, Germany, the UK, and other countries, bringing negotiations closer to China’s trading partners. During the expo, a buyers’ corridor will help connect quality products and services directly with the Chinese market.

In the first three quarters of 2026, China’s imports reached 16.74 trillion yuan (about $2.5 trillion), representing a 22.3 percent year-on-year increase. September alone saw monthly imports surpass 2 trillion yuan for the first time.

The CIIE offers a window into China’s vast domestic market, where growing demand is creating more opportunities for business around the world.

The expo is also becoming an increasingly attractive platform for foreign investors.

Through the CIIE, exhibitors including ZEISS Group, Schneider Electric and AstraZeneca have established R&D centers, regional headquarters and advanced manufacturing bases in China.

As global companies unveil debut products, many are simultaneously accelerating plans to deepen local R&D, increase investment, and consolidate regional operations.

Over the past three years, the number of foreign-invested enterprises in China has grown steadily. Between January and April 2026 alone, more than 3,000 foreign-invested firms announced additional capital commitments.

The CIIE continues to witness how exhibits become marketable products and exhibitors become investors, and more global companies deepen their presence in China and create benefits for the world.

Beyond commerce, the expo is strengthening cultural and people-to-people ties. More than a marketplace for goods and services, it serves as a cross-cultural forum. The distinctive Country Exhibition area hosts performances and exhibitions that offer visitors a rich tapestry of global traditions.

This year introduces several firsts: the Premium Collection will feature intangible cultural heritage workshops, the Gourmet Festival will launch a global tasting zone, and the Arts Carnival will collaborate with China Fashion Week. These initiatives foster mutual understanding and enrich economic partnerships with stronger societal connections.

The CIIE provides a broader multilateral platform for open cooperation. In step with the trend of economic globalization, it has established an authoritative platform for high-level dialogue and multilateral economic and trade cooperation.

For the first time, more than 300 Fortune Global 500 companies and industry leaders are participating. Nearly 200 firms and institutions have attended all nine editions, while five countries, including Moldova and Romania, as well as the United Nations Development Programme, are joining for the first time, demonstrating the strong appeal of openness and cooperation.

China advances high-level opening up with the aim of expanding the pie of cooperation with the rest of the world. Its stories of opening up have sent a message to the world that China is not only the world’s factory but also a global market. It is not only a “super seller” but also a “super buyer.”

The two-way engagement does not marginalize other stakeholders; rather, it creates tangible benefits for neighboring economies and fosters regional prosperity.

At this year’s expo, pavilions dedicated to Asian and African products will be expanded, featuring higher-quality displays and enhanced programming. These enhancements aim to help African countries with diplomatic ties to China leverage tariff-free access and encourage more Global South countries to fully utilize the CIIE.

Stephen Jackson, United Nations Resident Coordinator in China, noted that the CIIE offers developing economies a practical pathway to integrate more deeply into global value chains and share the benefits of trade.

China will harness the momentum of opening up and pool strength for win-win cooperation. It will firmly uphold multilateralism and continue to make the CIIE a success, helping steer economic globalization toward greater openness, inclusiveness, balance and shared benefits.

By Zhang Yunhe, People’s Daily

Situated on the Beibu Gulf coast in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Qinzhou has served as a maritime gateway since ancient times, linking inland waterways with the open sea.

Today, propelled by the expansion of the Beibu Gulf International Gateway Port, the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, and the China-Malaysia Qinzhou Industrial Park, the city is forging a dynamic new path toward deeper maritime engagement and global integration.

A modern maritime hub: Streamlining connectivity and multimodal transport

At the automated container terminal of Beibu Gulf Port, cargo operations run continuously around the clock.

Nearby, at a bulk cargo berth, the vessel Dubai Nature — carrying imported soybeans — has just docked. On deck, Bangladeshi crew member Rajib oversees mooring operations. Watching giant vessels pass one after another along the channel, he said: “The port is spacious. Operations run in an orderly manner, and the staff are friendly and responsible. It has left a deep impression on me.”

Qinzhou Port currently has 96 operational berths, including berths capable of accommodating vessels of up to 300,000 tonnes. It operates 92 container shipping routes, connecting with more than 200 ports in over 100 countries and regions worldwide.

In June this year, Moiz Farooq, executive editor of Pakistan Economic Network, visited Qinzhou. At the Smart Port Innovation Center of Beibu Gulf, he watched demonstrations of smart port operations, including the precise dispatching of autonomous container trucks.

“Qinzhou has world-class port facilities, and landmark projects such as the Pinglu Canal give it outstanding advantages in developing foreign trade,” Farooq said.

“I hope to see more Pakistani companies come to Qinzhou and explore cooperation opportunities in areas such as logistics, port development, maritime trade, and the digital economy.”

On September 16, the landmark Pinglu Canal opened for navigation. “The waterway establishes a new link between the inland waterway network and the sea, effectively shortening transport distances and reducing costs. It will also spur industrial clustering and port-related economic development in Qinzhou, enhancing regional competitiveness,” said Philippe Gourbesville, president of the International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research, after visiting the canal.

Fostering industrial growth and streamlining business services 

To support business development, Qinzhou has set up dedicated service teams at both municipal and county levels to assist enterprises in the real economy. Staff members regularly visit businesses and follow up on concerns raised through online platforms, providing ongoing support to help businesses resolve operational difficulties.

Han Seong Woo, a South Korean manager at Guangxi Lingshan Delin Toys Co., Ltd. in Lingshan county, Qinzhou, once encountered difficulties with identity verification when applying to change his company’s business address.

Recognizing the complexity, staff members promptly coordinated across departments and guided him through the necessary steps. What he anticipated would be a lengthy bureaucratic process was resolved efficiently.

Thanks to multiple opening-up platforms, including the China-Malaysia Qinzhou Industrial Park and the Qinzhou Port area of the China (Guangxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone, Qinzhou is now home to 211 foreign-invested enterprises. Foreign-funded projects in light industry, aquatic products and port-related industries are steadily being implemented, injecting fresh impetus into local development.

“Qinzhou offers not only a highly supportive business environment but also a rich historical and cultural heritage. Lingshan county, for example, is home to ancient buildings such as those in the ancient Dalu Village,” Han said.

“As Qinzhou continues to open up, it will attract more South Koreans to work and invest here, further strengthening economic, trade and cultural ties between South Korea and China,” he added.

Bridging cultures through education and people-to-people exchange

Inside a classroom at Beibu Gulf University in Qinzhou, students practice conversational Thai under the guidance of instructor Orawee Wei. Standing beside their desks, she uses expressive gestures to help learners master intonation and rhythm.

“After living in Qinzhou for many years, I have come to regard this place as my second home,” she said.

Over recent years, schools in Qinzhou have established sister-school partnerships with their counterparts in Malaysia and other ASEAN countries, organizing a range of people-to-people exchange activities, including cultural and tourism exchange activities and study programs for young people.

Wei, who grew up in a family of teachers in Nakhon Sawan province, Thailand, and joined Beibu Gulf University in 2020.

“When I first arrived, only 80 students were studying Thai. Today, that number has grown to more than 200, with an increasing number of young Chinese people eager to learn the language,” she said.

Wei teaches specialized courses such as Business Thai and Practical Thai for International Trade. She has seen five cohorts of her students graduate.

“My students are actively involved in Thailand-China economic and trade exchanges. They work as accompanying interpreters, business secretaries and foreign trade accountants for Thai and Chinese companies, helping strengthen economic and trade ties between Qinzhou and ASEAN,” she said.

From an ancient port once bustling with sailing ships to a modern gateway now traversed by giant vessels, Qinzhou has become a key hub of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor.

Linking mountains and seas and creating opportunities, the city keeps goods moving, businesses thriving and people connected, offering a vivid example of cooperation and exchanges between China and the rest of the world.

By He Yin, People’s Daily

The international community has paid close attention to the fifth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), highlighting the global significance and contemporary relevance of the century-old Party’s experience in self-governance.

The session, held in Beijing from October 26 to 29, reviewed the major achievements and valuable experience gained in exercising full and rigorous Party self-governance in the new era, and deliberated and adopted the Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Certain Major Issues concerning Persevering with Full and Rigorous Party Self-Governance.

International observers have noted that the session demonstrated the CPC’s unwavering commitment to self-reform, further strengthened the century-old Party’s stability and cohesion, and offered valuable experience for countries seeking to explore their own paths of development. 

To understand China today, one must learn to understand the CPC. Looking back on the Party’s more than 100-year history, a key reason for its success in winning one victory after another is that it has consistently attached great importance to its self-governance, had the courage to uphold truth and correct errors, and grown ever stronger by relying on its own efforts and the support of the people to resolve its own problems throughout different periods of its history.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, the Party has advanced Party building as a great new project in the new era, securing historic achievements and bringing about historic changes in the cause of the Party and the country, while ushering in a new landscape of governance both within the Party and across China.

“China’s modernization rests on a political strength that deserves greater international attention: the capacity to identify institutional weaknesses and organize sustained action to address them,” says an article published on the website of The Diplomatic Insight, a Pakistani magazine. 

International observers generally believe that the CPC’s continued efforts to step up Party building and improve its governing capacity, together with its sustained commitment to full and rigorous Party self-governance, help improve the country’s governance system and provide a strong political guarantee for advancing Chinese modernization with confidence.

To govern the country well, the Party must first govern itself well, and to make the country strong, the Party must first strengthen itself. 

Today, the international landscape is characterized by intertwined changes and turbulence. Some countries have long been plagued by conflict and disorder, while others remain mired in political infighting and social unrest.

More and more people are looking to China’s experience for answers to a fundamental question: Why can the CPC succeed?

In the more than five years since the opening of the Museum of the Communist Party of China, an increasing number of delegations from foreign political parties have visited this “spiritual home” of the CPC to learn about the century-old Party’s experience in state governance.

After visiting the museum, Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov wrote in the visitors’ guestbook that all the brilliant achievements and great victories are the result of the Chinese people’s efforts for the future of their country under the strong leadership of the CPC.

During his visit to China, President of the Council of Ministers of Togo Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé visited Liangjiahe village in northwest China’s Shaanxi province and Yundang Lake in Xiamen, southeast China’s Fujian province, among other places, and also toured the Museum of the Communist Party of China. He said that during his visit, he personally witnessed the remarkable achievements of Chinese modernization under the leadership of President Xi and gained a deeper understanding of China’s governance philosophy and the key to success.

With unwavering resolve and perseverance, the CPC has continued its efforts to exercise full and rigorous Party self-governance, while enriching and refining its experience in governing the country. 

These efforts have added new dimensions to exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and foreign political parties, while offering valuable experience in party governance to political parties around the world.

As the Party endeavors to supervise, govern, develop, and strengthen itself in the new era, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has put forward a series of new ideas, new thinking, and new strategies in response to the major questions of our times — what kind of long-term governing Marxist party should be built and how it should be built, thereby giving birth to Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building.

This thought has enriched and developed Marxist theory on party building, and it represents a major achievement in advancing the Party’s theoretical innovation through the integration of the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities and its fine traditional culture. 

The power of truth knows no borders. By persevering with full and rigorous Party self-governance, the CPC has leveraged its own governance to guide and underpin China’s governance. In doing so, it has challenged the notion that the Western model of political parties is the only viable model and contributed Chinese wisdom and solutions to the development and progress of global political civilization.

Madhav Kumar Nepal, co-coordinator of the Nepali Communist Party and former Nepali prime minister, said Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building has offered important insights for the development of political parties around the world. 

Only by consistently attaching great importance to party building and having the courage to renew itself can a political party lead a country toward lasting peace and stability, he said.

More than a century after its founding, the CPC remains in its prime. 

As the world’s largest political party, the CPC stands ready to work with other political parties around the world to deepen exchanges of experience in state governance, promote the exchange and mutual understanding of ideas, and join hands on the path to modernization, forging ahead on the broad path toward building a community with a shared future for humanity.