New development opportunities for agriculture, rural areas and farmers as China enters the era of net capital export
China has entered the era of net capital export. If more social capital can be leveraged into agriculture, rural areas and farmers, the momentum for their development will be stronger and more lasting.
Recently, three newly released items concern the broader environment and new opportunities for the development of agriculture, rural areas and farmers, and are worth attention.
On January 21, the National Bureau of Statistics released data on the operation of the national economy in 2014, showing that China's GDP grew 7.4% for the whole of last year, the lowest full-year growth rate since 1990. This can be described as an expected new situation. This medium-to-high growth rate, hovering between 7 and 8 percent, constitutes a typical feature of China's economic "new normal": lower economic growth, a fairer distribution of income, a more balanced economic structure, and accelerated industrial upgrading.
Almost simultaneously with the release of this data by the National Bureau of Statistics, the website of the Ministry of Commerce announced that China actually used about 119.6 billion USD in foreign capital in 2014, an increase of 1.7%; outbound investment, however, maintained double-digit growth, with the total amount of outbound direct investment expected to reach a scale of about 140 billion USD. Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Sun Jiwen said, "China has in fact become a net capital exporter. This is a universal rule of an open economy developing to a relatively high level, and an important sign of moving from a major trading nation to a strong one." China has thus entered the era of net capital export. This will be a new normal phenomenon of the Chinese economy, and also a new situation worth attention when studying economic and social issues including the development of agriculture, rural areas and farmers.
On January 22, the first national guiding document for the rural property rights transfer and trading market —— the "Opinions on Guiding the Healthy Development of the Rural Property Rights Transfer and Trading Market" —— was officially released. This document clearly stipulates that, at the current stage, the types of rural property rights transactions that can enter the market are mainly farmers' contracted land management rights and collective forest land management rights, and do not involve rural collective land ownership or the collective land contracting rights lawfully contracted by means of household contracting.
A comprehensive analysis of these three aspects of information leads to the conclusion that in the era of China's net capital export, the development of agriculture, rural areas and farmers faces more new opportunities than before. Stimulated by a series of policies encouraging overseas investment, the enthusiasm of social funds for outbound investment has been greatly released, so that under a medium-to-high economic growth trend, outbound investment can achieve a counter-trend surge. This shows that with China's economic development, the power of social funds is growing stronger and stronger, and can participate in economic construction with greater strength.
Against the backdrop of extraordinary growth in outbound investment, let us look at the "Opinions on Guiding the Healthy Development of the Rural Property Rights Transfer and Trading Market" issued by the General Office of the State Council. It can be said to be a policy encouragement to strengthen the intensity of investment in the development of agriculture, rural areas and farmers, and carries considerable weight. For rural areas to develop faster and agriculture to transform and upgrade, there is undoubtedly a need for large amounts of investment. China's development has long accumulated many outstanding debts to agriculture, rural areas and farmers. At present, as overall national strength continues to grow, the state has already tilted more toward agriculture, rural areas and farmers in terms of policy, input and resource allocation, gradually making up for the shortcomings in agricultural modernization and the arrears in rural development, and seeking to establish a new pattern of balanced urban-rural integrated development. Government support and input are important, but if more social funds that the market can allocate can be leveraged into agriculture, rural areas and farmers, the momentum gained for their development will be stronger and more lasting.
In recent years, as demand for the transfer and trading of various types of rural property rights such as farmers' contracted land management rights and forest rights has grown markedly, many places have established various forms of rural property rights transfer and trading markets and service platforms. However, because the development of rural property rights transfer and trading markets varies from place to place, their establishment, operation and supervision all need to be standardized. Because the ownership relationships of rural land property rights are complex and the applicable rules differ, the "Opinions" provide classified guidance on rural land ownership, contracting rights and management rights, aiming to implement the "separation of three rights" and prevent farmers from losing their land due to transfer. On the premise of ensuring that farmers fairly share in the dividends of development, encouraging urban and rural talent and capital to participate in the development of agriculture, rural areas and farmers in appropriate ways will surely activate benign urban-rural interaction, further unleash latent productivity, and open up a suddenly bright new prospect for urban-rural integrated development.
⟦NL> Becoming a major outbound investment country can be said to be an important sign of China's rise in the world. Why can China, as a vast country, rise again? There are many reasons, but we must acknowledge that the diligence, sense of responsibility and sacrifices made by Chinese farmers are among the most important reasons. Along with the expansion of China's opening to the outside world, goods trade and absorbing foreign capital were the main channels in the earlier period, while in the later period "going global" and trade in services gradually gained momentum. It is an inevitable path for capital export to participate in the global value chain and gradually climb toward the high end of the global value chain, which is conducive to promoting the upgrading of the entire domestic industry, resolving excess production capacity, and enhancing China's global competitiveness. But at the same time, enabling the development of agriculture, rural areas and farmers to also receive the impetus of capital, accelerating the modernization of agriculture, and letting rural areas and farmers generally feel the sunshine of wealth are even more the due meaning of being a capital power. China's new normal of growth, the new form of outbound investment, and a new starting point for the development of agriculture, rural areas and farmers. This new starting point is full of opportunities and hope.