Accelerated Opening-up Bolsters Foreign Investment Confidence in China
Recently, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade conducted a survey among over 400 key foreign-funded enterprises. A significant majority, with 64.9% and 66.6% of the respondents, believed that policies related to foreign investment issued by central and local governments have been effective in providing support, and they generally expressed a sense of the Chinese government's determination to expand high-level opening up to the outside world. Zhang Shaogang, Vice Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, stated this on October 28th.
Experts have indicated that despite the complex and volatile global economic situation, China continues to maintain its appeal to foreign investment, especially in the high-tech and service sectors. This year, China has been steadily advancing efforts to attract and utilize foreign capital, demonstrating a firm resolve to continue deepening reforms and expanding openness, which will further boost the confidence of foreign investment in taking root in China and delving into the Chinese market.
Foreign capital has been active in various moves. "China's rapid development has helped Apple achieve rapid and sustainable growth. Apple views China as an important market and a key supply chain partner, and is committed to long-term development in China, continuously increasing investment in supply chains, research and development, and other areas," said Tim Cook, CEO of Apple Inc., recently.
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Jacob Wallenberg, Chairman of the Board of the Swedish Investor AB, also recently expressed optimism about China's economic development prospects, stating that companies such as ABB and Ericsson, which are part of the Investor AB, are willing to continue to delve deeper into the Chinese market and expand their investments in China.
Not long ago, eight well-known foreign pharmaceutical companies, including Eli Lilly, Merck, Pfizer, Bayer, AstraZeneca, Medtronic, Danaher, and Huaxia Bio, collectively announced that they would establish new research and innovation projects in Beijing. Most of these are the "first in Beijing" and "first in China" within the business map of multinational pharmaceutical companies.
For instance, as the pharmaceutical company with the highest market value in the world, Eli Lilly will establish the China Medical Innovation Center and Innovation Incubator in Yizhuang, Beijing, which will be the first innovation incubator outside the United States. Daniel Skovronsky, Chief Scientific Officer of Eli Lilly, stated that China has introduced a series of policies to encourage innovation and has recently expanded the opening up of the medical field, which is a positive development. With its large population base and a relatively advanced health system, China is an extremely important and rapidly growing market.
Intensive signals of expanding openness have been sent. In September, it was permitted to establish wholly foreign-owned hospitals (except for traditional Chinese medicine, excluding the acquisition of public hospitals) in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and the entire Hainan Island. In October, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology organized a symposium on expanding the pilot work of value-added telecommunications services to open up to foreign investment, officially launching the pilot work in Beijing, Shanghai, Hainan, and Shenzhen. Starting from November, restrictions on foreign investment access in the manufacturing sector have been "cleared"...
The Minister of Commerce stated that recently, China has introduced new policies for opening up and has effectively promoted the resolution of issues concerning foreign-funded enterprises. In the future, efforts will be made to further optimize the business environment and continue to provide high-quality services for foreign-funded enterprises."The Chinese government is unwavering in its commitment to high-level opening up to the outside world, continuously reducing the negative list for foreign investment access, and treating domestic and foreign-funded enterprises equally in supporting large-scale equipment upgrades and consumer goods exchange for the old, as well as related government procurement and project investments," said Ling Ji, Vice Minister of Commerce and Deputy Representative for International Trade Negotiations. He welcomed foreign-funded enterprises to seize the development opportunities brought by China's high-quality development and high-level opening up, to expand investment and R&D cooperation in China, and to achieve mutual benefit and win-win outcomes.
Continuous optimization of investment structure
Data released by the Ministry of Commerce shows that in the first nine months of this year, 42,108 new foreign-funded enterprises were established nationwide, a year-on-year increase of 11.4%.
Looking at the industry, in the first nine months of this year, the actual use of foreign investment in the manufacturing industry was 179.24 billion yuan, and in the service industry, it was 446.13 billion yuan. The actual use of foreign investment in high-tech manufacturing was 77.12 billion yuan, accounting for 12% of the country's actual use of foreign investment, an increase of 1.5 percentage points compared to the same period last year.
Liu Xiangdong, Deputy Director of the Economic Research Department of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said that in the first nine months of this year, the actual amount of foreign investment utilized decreased, but there were more newly established foreign-funded enterprises nationwide, and the structure was optimized. The proportion of actual foreign investment utilized in high-tech manufacturing continued to increase, and the use of foreign investment in the service industry was better than in general manufacturing.
Based on the analysis of experts, the increase in the number of newly established enterprises indicates that foreign investors still have confidence in the Chinese market. The gradual emergence of modern service industries as the main area for attracting foreign investment reflects, to some extent, the effectiveness of China's economic structural transformation.
Experts believe that as the domestic economy continues to transform, high-tech industries develop rapidly, and the business environment is continuously optimized, China is likely to attract more foreign investment. However, it is also necessary to pay attention to the impact of changes in the global economic situation and domestic policy adjustments. In the next stage, efforts should continue to deepen reform and opening up, strengthen cooperation and exchange with the international community, and provide a more stable, transparent, and predictable investment environment for foreign capital.