Commentary
BEIJING – China yet again recorded robust global orders during the annual 11/11 or Singles’ Day shopping spree this year.
Figures released on Wednesday showed that as of 12:30 a.m. consumers had already spent 372.3 billion yuan on Alibaba’s e-commerce platform Tmall since the company kicked off the shopping festival on November 1. By 12:09 a.m., JD.com, another e-commerce giant, saw its cumulative sales since November 1 top 200 billion yuan.
The extraordinary sales performance is not only down to the Chinese market. The shopping festival is a global event that has indicated that China, as the world’s biggest market, is becoming one of the major forces driving economic globalization to overcome headwinds of protectionism.
Despite the serious impact of COVID-19, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast China will be the only major economy to see growth this year. The Chinese economy has demonstrated strong recovery momentum.
The purchasing power of Chinese customers is on the rise, enabling them to buy more high-quality products from suppliers worldwide, eliciting a wave of warmth for many international enterprises in the economic winter.
Multinational giants, as well as an increasing number of small companies, have expanded their presence in the open-door shopping gala this year.
Major Chinese e-commerce companies are also transforming into borderless business platforms, representing the efficient coordination of commercial forces in the global value chain, which include production, marketing, logistics, and payment.
As Chinese people pursue better lives, the vitality of China’s consumer market is expected to become a key engine driving world economic recovery and globalization in the post-pandemic era. China’s import volume is estimated to top US$22 trillion in the coming decade.
The 2020 Singles’ Day festival came just one day after the successful completion of the weeklong 3rd China International Import Expo (CIIE). Both events are seen to epitomize China’s “dual circulation” development pattern, where domestic and foreign markets can boost each other, with the domestic market as the mainstay.
The innovative strategy of dual circulation has been placed high on the agenda by the Chinese authorities, and it aims to explore the potential of domestic consumption without turning its back on the world.
China’s development has benefited from economic globalization, and the country is making major contributions to building an open world. The country’s policymakers aim to forge China’s market into a market for the world – a market shared by all and accessible to all.
Unilateralism and protectionism have long added uncertainties and challenges to the global economy. It is time to reclaim the confidence of economic globalization, and this shopping festival is an inspiring start. – Xinhua
