Country vows to create more opportunities for investors

China's rich innovative application scenarios, supportive policies and thriving market will continue to offer appealing investment opportunities for global investors, particularly in the fields of emerging industries and innovative business formats, said government officials and senior executives of multinational corporations.

Speaking on Tuesday at the Invest in China Summit 2024 in Beijing, Vice-President Han Zheng said that China will continue to explore and unleash market demand, injecting new vitality into the global economy and creating more new business opportunities for foreign companies.

Han emphasized that China's long-term growth has sound and solid foundations and it remains the largest engine for global development.

Ling Ji, vice-minister of commerce and China's deputy international trade representative, said the country will further shorten the negative list for foreign investment access and create a level playing field for domestic and foreign businesses.

Efforts will be made to resolve the concerns of global investors and ensure the implementation of national treatment for foreign investment, Ling said.

"The government will provide more precise policy support to attract investment in areas such as research and development centers, advanced manufacturing, green and low-carbon development and the digital economy," said Ling, adding that these policy measures will create favorable conditions for overseas businesses to participate in the development of China's new quality productive forces.

New quality productive forces are advanced productivity freed from traditional economic growth modes and productivity development paths, featuring high-tech, high efficiency and high quality, and in line with the new development philosophy.

Highlighting that the concept of new quality productive forces is fully in line with its growth strategy, Stefan Hartung, board chairman of German industrial conglomerate Robert Bosch, said that China's focus on technology is expected to closely align with global trends, bolstering the country's role in the world economy. The outlook is positive, as international trade and collaboration not only benefit China but also have beneficial implications for the global community.

After opening a new innovation and manufacturing center in Su-zhou, Jiangsu province, last year, Hartung said the group will continue to expand such capabilities across China.

"This shift indicates that our focus is no longer solely on market presence and production in China. Instead, the emphasis is now on innovation," said Hartung.

Echoing that sentiment, Judy Marks, chairwoman, CEO and president of Otis Worldwide, a United States-based elevator manufacturer, said that with the expansion of China's opening-up and the optimization of the business environment, Otis will deploy more resources in developing energy-saving and digitalization-related solutions in the country.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, foreign direct investment in China's high-tech manufacturing sector jumped 10.1 percent year-on-year to 28.27 billion yuan ($3.92 billion) in the first two months of this year.

"China is a vast and highly sophisticated market filled with opportunities, where we innovate locally to cater to both the Chinese and global markets," said Antoine de Saint-Affrique, CEO of Danone, a French multinational food-products corporation.

To foster a more favorable business environment, the General Office of the State Council issued an action plan last week to steadily promote high-standard opening-up and make greater efforts to attract and utilize foreign investment.