China remains the best supply chain partner for many multinational businesses, with many holding favorable views of China's latest policy measures related to foreign investment and attending major expos in China, Zhang Shaogang, Deputy Director of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) said. Highlighting many multinationals' solid confidence in the Chinese market, a pair of upcoming major import and supply chain expos in China have attracted a significantly higher number of foreign participants, according to official data. Meanwhile, some global industry leaders such as Intel and Apple have recently moved to or vowed to expand their operations in the Chinese market. Foreign businesses' unrelenting enthusiasm for the Chinese market despite foreign media slander against China's business environment is the result of China's strong economic prospects and its continuous opening-up policy, and further laid bare the fact that the U.S.' decoupling policy has failed to gain broad support from businesses, Chinese experts told the Global Times.
A recent survey of more than 400 major foreign companies conducted by the CCPIT showed that 64.9% of participants hold favorable views on the supportive effects of foreign capital-related policies introduced by China's central government, and 66.6% hold favorable views on those issued by local governments, according to Zhang Shaogang. Foreign vendors participating in this year's China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) account for 32% of the total number of vendors, surpassing that of last year. Among the foreign vendors, the number of those from the U.S. tops the list, and the numbers of those from Europe and Japan are also significantly higher than last year, according to Zhang. “This fully demonstrates that foreign companies continue to be optimistic about the Chinese market, and China is still their best supply chain partner in allocating resources globally,” Zhang said at a press conference on the preparations for the CISCE.
The CISCE, the world's first supply chain-themed exhibition, is scheduled to take place in Beijing from November 26 to 30. As a major platform for promoting China's high-level opening-up and an open world economy, the expo is set to attract guests from more than 100 countries and regions and over 10 international organizations. Before the opening of the CISCE, China will kick off the China International Import Expo (CIIE), one of the world's largest import-themed expos, in Shanghai from November 5 to 10. This year's CIIE will be attended by 3,496 vendors from 129 countries and regions and the number of Fortune Global 500 companies and industry leading companies participating in the exhibition reached 297, a record number, according to the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM). “The attractiveness of the CISCE and the CIIE shows China's attractiveness among investors with the country's vast potential for investment and market growth,” Huo Jianguo, Vice Chairman of the China Society for World Trade Organization Studies in Beijing, told the Global Times.
At a separate press conference, CCPIT Spokesperson Sun Xiao revealed that a recent survey of more than 400 foreign businesses showed 90% feel China's business environment was “satisfactory” or better in the third quarter, with the highest proportion offering an assessment of “satisfactory” or better for indicators such as “market access” and “obtaining business premises.” “In terms of the market situation, the foreign businesses that participated in the survey continue to be optimistic about the Chinese market,” Sun said, pointing to significant improvement in European and US businesses' sentiment toward the Chinese market. According to the survey, in the third quarter, 41.67% of European companies believe that the prospects for the Chinese economy this year are “good,” an increase of 14.17 percentage points from the previous quarter. Also, 47.92% of the European companies surveyed believe the attractiveness of the Chinese market is “growing,” 5.42 percentage points higher than that of the previous quarter. Moreover, 60% of surveyed U.S. businesses think the attractiveness of the Chinese market is “growing,” up 15.26 percentage points from the previous quarter, according to CCPIT. That is significantly higher than the nearly 50% of all surveyed foreign businesses that think the attractiveness of the Chinese market is "growing", according to the Global Times.
Beyond improving sentiment, foreign businesses' willingness to invest in China is also increasing. Nearly 20% of surveyed foreign businesses plan to expand investment in China, up 2.07 percentage points, with the willingness of EU businesses' to expand investment being relatively higher, with a 2.5 percentage point improvement from the previous quarter. The survey showed that foreign businesses have been able to truly feel the improvement in China's business environment following a slew of measures, including streamlining procedures, expanding opening-up and continuously sending signals of further opening-up, said Zhou Mi, Senior Research Fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.
