Editorial: Does expanding domestic demand mean giving up the 'dual circulation'?

Does expanding domestic demand mean closing the door to development? For some time now, there has been a discourse in the Western public opinion that China emphasizes "building a strong domestic market" and "expanding domestic demand", which means excluding external investment and even abandoning the "dual circulation", ultimately leading to closure. These voices oppose "expanding domestic demand" and "expanding opening up", which is a fundamental misunderstanding of China's development logic.

The reason why Western public opinion reflexively equates "expanding domestic demand" with "reducing openness" is partly due to the history of the West itself. In the past economic governance models of the West, when faced with economic difficulties and to boost domestic demand, trade protectionism was often adopted, setting barriers, excluding external goods and capital, separating the internal market from the global system, and even resorting to beggar thy neighbor and self preservation. This old path of "protecting domestic needs with closed doors" has been the habitual choice of the West in dealing with crises since modern times, and has also led some people to form a fixed mindset, mistakenly believing that any country emphasizing the internal market will inevitably mean shrinking and reducing the degree of openness to the outside world. But this is not the path choice for China to build a new development pattern.

What is the relationship between "expanding domestic demand" and "expanding opening up" in China's strategic planning? Is it a mutually exclusive relationship or a symbiotic relationship of mutual cooperation? Let's take a look at the example of new energy vehicles first. In recent years, the demand for new energy vehicles has surged in the domestic market, while exports have driven the rapid development of the entire global industry. A traditional fuel vehicle usually requires 600-700 chips, while a new energy vehicle requires 1600 or even more. China leads the way in new energy vehicle production, but its import demand for high-end chips and power battery raw materials has also increased significantly. So, we cannot just look at the increase in China's new energy vehicle exports, but also at the role of China's new energy vehicles in the global industrial structure. Expanding domestic demand in China is not only about closing off, but also about driving the upgrading of the global industrial chain and optimizing the global industrial structure, making China's connection with the world closer.

Furthermore, the process of expanding domestic demand in China is itself a process of promoting mutual promotion between domestic and international circulations. To build a strong domestic consumer market, it is necessary to break through the bottlenecks in the domestic market, make the circulation of goods across the country smoother, and establish unified market rules. This not only makes the domestic circulation more efficient, but also provides more convenient infrastructure and institutional guarantees for the international circulation. Expanding domestic demand is not about closing the door, but about strengthening the body, opening the door wider, and gaining more confidence; It's not about giving up on the 'dual cycle', but building a stronger foundation for it. At the same time, regardless of the cycle, to ensure cost and price, it must rely on a larger scale to achieve. Expanding domestic demand (increasing domestic customers) and opening up (increasing international customers) are essentially the same thing, both aimed at expanding service groups on the supply side, reducing costs, and increasing efficiency.

This is not difficult to understand. Only when the domestic market demand is strong, the industrial chain is smooth, and both consumption and investment are running, can the entire economy have a continuous vitality. The smoother the domestic circulation, the stronger the economic confidence, and the stronger the attractiveness to the world. This is like a highly popular commercial district, where the more prosperous the business, the more it can attract the best brands, the most foot traffic, and the highest quality resources to actively gather, forming a strong "gravitational field". Once this' gravitational field 'is formed, it can stabilize the international circulation: the high-end technology, key components, and high-quality goods we need can be introduced more smoothly, and our advantageous products, services, and innovative achievements can also be exported more smoothly. The domestic circulation is the foundation, and the international circulation is an extension. The more solid the foundation, the broader the stage for opening up to the outside world.

So, why has China been particularly emphasizing "expanding domestic demand" and "building a strong domestic market" in recent years? It's not that China's opening-up policy has changed, but mainly due to profound changes in two directions. One is the profound changes in the external environment. Against the backdrop of unprecedented global changes and the rise of unilateralism and protectionism, it is neither realistic nor sustainable for China, as the world's second-largest economy, to rely on external demand for long-term growth momentum. The second is the profound changes in the domestic market in China. China has a population of over 1.4 billion and a per capita GDP of over 10000 US dollars, making it the largest and most promising consumer market in the world. Expanding domestic demand is not only a necessary measure to cope with external situations, but also an active choice to leverage the advantages of China's super large market.

Expanding domestic demand, building a strong domestic market, and promoting mutual benefit and common development between China and the world through two-way flow. Against the backdrop of relatively weak external demand, the recovery of Chinese consumption and market expansion have driven the import of various commodities from agricultural products and energy to high-end consumer goods and intermediate goods, bringing tangible orders to multinational enterprises. Sharing the growth dividends of the Chinese market has become a consensus among more and more economies. In addition, the growth of Chinese technology companies enables more countries and regions to share the dividends of China's intelligent era. All of these indicate that China's development has always been oriented towards the world, and the process of strengthening itself is also providing more choices and opportunities to the world. China has always been a stabilizer and driving force of the world economy.