As the opening year of the 15th Five-Year Plan, 2026 saw the National Commerce Work Conference explicitly propose building three major brands: "Buy in China," "Export to China," and "Invest in China." It also systematically deployed eight aspects of work, including the in-depth implementation of special actions to boost consumption. This approach, grounded in both expanding domestic demand and high-level opening-up, provides support and solidifies the foundation for Chinese brand building. Using brand building as a lever to promote high-quality development in the commerce sector and unleash the potential of the domestic market is also an inevitable requirement for building a new development pattern, igniting a powerful impetus for China's high-quality development.
The "Buy in China" initiative is activating new momentum for domestic demand growth, unleashing the full potential of China's consumption engine. Consumption, as the primary driver of economic growth, is directly related to people's well-being and the quality of development. The launch of the "Buy in China" brand marks a new stage in my country's consumer market development, shifting from scale expansion to quality improvement. my country boasts 1.4 billion people, over 400 million of whom are in the middle-income group. Sales of goods such as air conditioners, washing machines, and new energy vehicles rank first globally, and online retail sales have been the world's highest for 12 consecutive years. People's consumption needs are shifting from "availability" to "quality." The measures proposed at the meeting, such as "cultivating new growth points in service consumption," "optimizing trade-in policies," and "creating an internationalized consumption environment," accurately grasp the trend of consumption upgrading. Since last year, sports leagues like the Jiangsu Super League, Jiangxi Super League, and Hunan Super League have consistently topped online charts, and the concert economy is booming. To better stimulate consumer demand, the railway department has added customized high-speed trains overnight, essentially aiming to continuously unleash the potential of service consumption. As more and more demands are met, it's like a key unlocking the enormous potential of China's consumer market.
Boosting trade development through "Exporting to China" will unleash China's innovative vitality. Currently, unilateralism and protectionism are intensifying, multilateralism and free trade are facing severe challenges, the world's openness index is declining, and my country's foreign trade faces increasing uncertainties and unpredictable factors. Against this backdrop, the proposal of "Exporting to China" is of great significance. Data shows that my country's merchandise trade volume has successively crossed the $5 trillion and $6 trillion thresholds, reaching $6.16 trillion in 2024, a 32.4% increase from 2020, maintaining its position as the world's largest for eight consecutive years. We need to strengthen our comprehensive competitiveness in technology, standards, and brands, shifting from labor-intensive products to high-tech, high-value-added products. On the one hand, we can focus on digital services, continuously investing in areas such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and cross-border e-commerce to seize the forefront of the digital economy services. On the other hand, the rapid growth in exports of green products such as new energy vehicles, photovoltaic products, and energy storage equipment is opening up international markets and forming a continuous output of technology, standards, and services, allowing Chinese standards to lead world standards, giving us a head start in development.
"Investing in China" showcases the immense appeal of the Chinese market and demonstrates the advantages of the Chinese system. The development of the "Investing in China" brand is a significant manifestation of my country's opening-up policy. As the meeting proposed, "orderly expanding the independent opening-up of the service sector," "improving the level of investment promotion," and "improving the service guarantee system for foreign investment" demonstrate my country's firm determination to promote development through opening-up. Expanding opening-up not only introduces competitive vitality but also continuously unleashes the charm of China's huge domestic market. The in-depth advancement of the Hainan Free Trade Port construction will form a "test field" for higher-level opening-up, exploring more replicable and scalable institutional innovations in investment, trade, finance, and other fields. From the China International Import Expo to the Canton Fair, from the China International Fair for Trade in Services to the China International Consumer Goods Expo, the opportunities of the Chinese market embrace the world, attracting countless overseas capital to "Investing in China" and enabling China to take more firm and composed steps towards high-quality development.
Guided by brand building, high-quality development progresses with greater ease. From "Buy in China" to "Export to China" and then to "Invest in China," the three major brand building initiatives complement each other and are organically unified. This is not only a coordinated advancement of the strategic focus on expanding domestic demand and high-level opening-up, but also a concrete practice of building a new development pattern. In the first year of the 15th Five-Year Plan, leading high-quality development with brand building will undoubtedly provide solid support for Chinese-style modernization and contribute more Chinese wisdom and solutions to global economic development. (Article by Liu Songhan, Jin Yang Net)
