Multinational executives flock to China for opportunities
Numerous top executives from multinational companies have recently visited China for forums, conferences and business partnerships, inspecting investment environments and communicating with government departments.
In response, the number of newly established foreign enterprises in China increased by 34.9% year-on-year in the first two months of this year. Surveys show that foreign enterprises' satisfaction with China's business environment is improving.
On March 21, Apple's largest retail store on the Chinese mainland opened in Shanghai. Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, said the company will strengthen its long-term cooperation with Chinese partners in green and intelligent manufacturing, aiming for a win-win situation. "There is no more important place than China for Apple's supply chain," Cook noted.
The 2024 China Development Forum, held from March 24 to 25, attracted nearly a hundred top executives from multinational companies. Many executives mentioned China's increasingly important role in driving global innovation and expressed their willingness to continue investing in China.
"We plan to expand our investment in China. Our recent expansion project in Shanxi's Xi'an city, with an investment of over 4.3 billion yuan, is set to begin," said Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of Micron Technology.
"Mercedes-Benz's strategic goal for developing electric vehicles remains unchanged, and we will firmly increase our investment in China," said Ola Källenius, Chairman of the Board of Mercedes-Benz, expressing the company's desire to strengthen cooperation with the Chinese automotive industry in reducing trade barriers and maintaining a fair, competitive environment.
German chemical company Wacker Chemie AG said it will firmly invest in China to support the green and low-carbon transformation of industries such as chemicals, automotive, and energy.
Besides, many multinational top executives visited various regions in China personally to get a closer look at the local investment environment.
According to He Yadong, spokesperson of China's Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry's leaders recently met with global executives from over 20 multinational companies, including Apple, Qualcomm, and Mercedes-Benz. The firms cover fields of medicine, automotive, food, finance, cosmetics, electronic information, and chemical energy.
Data from the Ministry of Commerce showed that in the first two months of this year, the number of newly established foreign enterprises in China reached 7,160, up 34.9% year-on-year.
A spokesperson from the Ministry's Foreign Investment Department said this figure is the highest in the past five years, indicating that multinational companies still see opportunities in China's market and are increasing their investment in China.
Source: People's Daily Online; trans-editing by Guo Yao