Abstract: President Xi Jinping has stated, We must strengthen the domestic economic cycle to enhance our autonomy in expanding high-level opening-up, and expand the international economic cycle to boost the vitality of domestic reform and development, striving to achieve internal and external connectivity and mutual promotion. The core of this principle is that autonomy is not a shield of isolation, but an engine of openness; high-level opening-up must be built on the foundation of a robust domestic economic cycle, while the deepening of the international economic cycle, in turn, provides impetus for domestic reform. Strengthening the domestic economic cycle essentially involves smoothing the flow of production, distribution, circulation, and consumption within the country to build a secure and efficient economic ecosystem centered on China, thereby providing strategic depth, the appeal of a massive market, and bargaining leverage for high-level opening-up. Expanding the international economic cycle, on the other hand, involves guiding domestic entities to break free from old path dependencies and achieve a leap in capabilities and systemic upgrades through channels such as global competitive pressure, knowledge spillovers, and the learning of institutional rules. Achieving interconnectedness and mutual promotion between domestic and international cycles requires the establishment of a new governance ecosystem—one that ensures the efficient flow of domestic and international factors and the seamless integration of rules, all while safeguarding core security interests. The path forward lies in transforming autonomy into the driving force for institutional innovation: reducing the costs of the domestic cycle through the development of a unified national market; enhancing the quality of the international cycle by aligning with CPTPP standards; and proactively setting the agenda in emerging fields such as cross-border data flows and green technology standards.
