On April 10, 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia Tuesday morning.

The conference runs from April 8 to 11 in Boao and is themed "An Open and Innovative Asia for a World of Greater Prosperity."

On the speech, President Xi announced that China will take several great measures in broaden opening-up.

Firstly, China to significantly broaden market access

On the service sector, espeically financial sector,China announced that measures would be taken to raise foreign equity caps in the banking, securities and insurance industries late last year."We will ensure that these measures are materialized," Xi said.

China will accelerate the opening-up of the insurance industry, ease restrictions on the establishment of foreign financial institutions in China and expand their business scope, and open up more areas of cooperation between Chinese and foreign financial markets.

On manufacturing, he said China has basically opened up this sector with a small number of exceptions on automobiles, ships and aircraft.

"These industries are now in a position to open up. Going forward, we will reduce as soon as possible limits on foreign investment in these industries, automobiles in particular," Xi said.

Secondly, China to create more attractive investment environment

Likening investment environment to air, Xi said that only fresh air can attract more investment from the outside.

"China relied mainly on providing favorable policies for foreign investors in the past, but now we will have to rely more on improving the investment environment," he said.

Xi said that China will complete the revision of the negative list on foreign investment in the first half of the year and implement across the board the management system based on pre-establishment national treatment and negative list.

"We will enhance alignment with international economic and trading rules, increase transparency, strengthen property right protection, uphold the rule of law, encourage competition and oppose monopoly," he said.

In March, China established a host of new agencies such as the State Administration for Market Regulation as part of a major readjustment of government institutions.

The purpose of this readjustment, Xi said, was to remove the systematic and institutional obstacles that prevent the market from playing a decisive role in resources allocation, and enable the government to better play its role.

Thirdly, China to strengthen IPR protection

IPR protection is the centerpiece of the system for improving property rights protection, and it would provide the biggest boost to enhancing the competitiveness of the Chinese economy, the president said.

"Stronger IPR protection is the requirement of foreign enterprises, and even more so of Chinese enterprises," he said.

China is re-instituting the State Intellectual Property Office this year to step up law enforcement, significantly raise the cost for offenders and fully unlock the deterrent effect of relevant laws, according to the president.

"We encourage normal technological exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and foreign enterprises, and protect the lawful IPR owned by foreign enterprises in China," he said.

Meanwhile, China hopes foreign governments will also improve protection of Chinese IPR, the president said.

Fourthly, China to take the initiative to expand imports

The country will work hard to import more products that are competitive and needed by the Chinese people, he said.

China will also seek faster progress toward joining the WTO Government Procurement Agreement, according to the president.

"China does not seek trade surplus; we have a genuine desire to increase imports and achieve greater balance of international payments under the current account," he said.

Speaking of the first China International Import Expo to be held in Shanghai this November, Xi said friends from around the world are welcome to participate in the Expo.

"It is not just another expo in an ordinary sense, but a major policy initiative and commitment taken of our own accord to open up the Chinese market," he said.

Meanwhile, China hopes developed countries will stop imposing restrictions on normal and reasonable trade of high-tech products and relax export controls on such trade with China, according to the president.

President Xi stressed:”About the major opening up initiatives I just announced, we will make them materialized as soon as possible, sooner rather than later, appropriate fast not slow, trying to benefit Chinese companies and people with opening up achivements as early as possible, and to benefit businesses and people from all over the world as well.”

“I believe that through the efforts, China's competitiveness of financial sector will be improved significantly, the capital market will be sustainable with healthy development, the modern industry system construction will accelerate, the market environment will be greatly improved, the protection of intellectual property of China will be strongly strengthened and China’s opening up will go to a whole new stage.” he said.