What kind of signal does the Central Economic Work Conference release when making arrangements for this year's key tasks: "opening up to the outside world at a high level" and explicitly proposing to "consolidate the basic situation of foreign trade and foreign investment"? How can foreign trade and foreign-funded enterprises grasp new opportunities and cultivate new momentum?
Xinhua News Agency launched a new issue of "China Economic Roundtable" large-scale all-media interview program on the 8th, inviting Zhu Bing, Director of the Foreign Investment Management Department of the Ministry of Commerce, Zhang Wei, Vice President of the Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce, Zhao Yugang, Deputy Director of the Free Trade Zone Administration of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone Management Committee, and Fang Xueyu, President of Hisense International Marketing Company, to discuss the new development opportunities brought by high-level opening up.
The fluctuation of the scale of attracting foreign investment is still at a historical high
This is the recording site of the China Economic Roundtable. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Yehua
Since the second quarter of 2023, the scale of China's foreign investment attraction has changed from rising to decreasing. How do you see fluctuations in the scale of attracting foreign investment?
In response to concerns from the outside world, Zhu Bing said that from 2019 to 2021, China's foreign investment attracted high growth for three consecutive years, and the actual use of foreign capital in the first 11 months of 2022 was 1,156.09 billion yuan, the highest level in the same period in history, and in the first 11 months of 2023, the actual use of foreign capital in the country also reached more than 1 trillion yuan, which is still at a historical high.
This is Zhu Bing, director of the Department of Foreign Investment Management of the Ministry of Commerce. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Yehua
"There are fluctuations in the scale of foreign investment, both economic and non-economic factors. Zhu Bing said, first, the impact and impact of the global pandemic has not subsided, the epidemic has blocked offline inspection and exchanges, affecting the investment decision-making of multinational companies, due to the long investment decision-making cycle of multinational companies, resulting in a lag in data; second, affected by geopolitics, transnational capital flows have fluctuated to a certain extent; third, the overall scale of global transnational investment has shrunk, and the competition for international investment has intensified, which has caused a certain diversion impact on the macro level.
According to a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the scale of global cross-border direct investment in 2022 will decline by 12.4% year-on-year to US$1.3 trillion, which is only about 60% of the historical high (exceeding US$2 trillion in 2015 and 2016), and will still face relatively strong pressure in 2023. According to UNCTAD statistics, as many as 102 investment incentive policies were introduced by countries in 2022, an increase of more than 50% year-on-year.
"Despite this, the fundamentals of China's long-term economic growth have not changed, and China's super-large market advantages and relatively complete industrial and supply chains have formed a long-term attraction to foreign investors. Zhu Bing said.
As Zhu Bing said, there are many multinational companies that are optimistic about the Chinese market for a long time. Not long ago, Airbus broke ground on the second production line of the A320 family aircraft assembly line invested in China in Tianjin.
On April 14, 2023, Airbus held an opening event in Suzhou, announcing the opening of its R&D center in China. Xinhua News Agency
"We have just recently released our global air services market forecast for the next 20 years. China will triple in value of its air services market in the next two decades, making it the largest air services market. Xu Gang, executive vice president of Airbus Global and CEO of Airbus China, said that even in the most difficult stage of the three years of the epidemic, the pace of the company's investment in China has not stopped.
In 2022, Airbus will set up a R&D center in Suzhou, with Suzhou as the fulcrum, taking advantage of the advantages of aviation and hydrogen energy-related industrial chains in the Yangtze River Delta region to carry out hydrogen energy infrastructure research and development, and promote the transformation and upgrading of the aviation industry.
"Our confidence comes not only from the huge Chinese market, but also from being optimistic about the high-quality and green development of China's economy. Xu Gang said.
Airbus' increased investment in China is the epitome of China's high-quality foreign investment.
In the first 11 months of 2023, 48,078 foreign-invested enterprises were newly established in mainland China, a year-on-year increase of 36.2%. The scale of investment in high-tech industries accounted for 37.2%, an increase of 1.1 percentage points from the level of 2022.
This is the Zhangjiang area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone taken on September 10, 2023 (drone photo). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Fang Zhe
Zhao Yugang said that at present, the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone has gathered more than 400 regional headquarters of multinational enterprises and more than 250 foreign-funded R&D centers, reflecting the positive progress made in high-level opening up.
This is Zhao Yugang, deputy director of the Free Trade Zone Administration Bureau of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone Management Committee. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Yehua
The 2021 version of the negative list for foreign investment access in the pilot free trade zone has cleared the number of items in the manufacturing industry and continued to expand the opening up of the service industry, the number of new items in the catalogue of encouraged industries for foreign investment has reached a record high, and a number of high-tech manufacturing items have been added, foreign investment in the establishment of R&D centers has been further encouraged, and every effort has been made to implement the "24 articles for stabilizing foreign investment...... In recent years, a series of policies to stabilize foreign investment have been introduced one after another, and the quality and level of investment attraction have been continuously improved.
"As the impact of the epidemic subsides, the investment policy continues to be effective, and China's attractiveness to foreign investment will continue to increase. Zhu Bing said.
The growth rate of foreign trade has turned from negative to positive, and the positive trend has continued to consolidate
Throughout 2023, China's foreign trade has withstood the pressure and shown strong resilience -
In November 2023, in RMB terms, China's export volume ended a six-month downward trend, the growth rate of export trade volume reached the highest since the second quarter, the import trade volume maintained positive growth for 10 consecutive months, and the total import and export value increased year-on-year for two consecutive months. At present, China still ranks as the world's largest trading country in goods.
"The evaluation of China's foreign trade performance must be based on the overall situation of global economic development. Zhang Wei thinks.
This is Zhang Wei, vice president of the Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Yehua
At present, the global economic recovery is progressing slowly, and economic and trade activities continue to be sluggish. The UNCTAD report predicts that global trade in goods and services will decline by 4.5% in 2023, of which trade in goods will decline by 7.5%. 2024 remains "highly uncertain and generally pessimistic", with geopolitical tensions, rising debt problems, volatile commodity prices, declining demand from developed countries, and increased trade restrictions becoming the main influencing factors.
"Under such circumstances, China's foreign trade has not only maintained the stability of the total volume, but also emerged new growth points, showing very strong resilience and competitiveness. Zhang Wei said.
Foreign trade has achieved steady growth in "quantity", and there has been a significant improvement in "quality".
In the first three quarters of 2023, the monthly import and export growth rate of private enterprises was higher than that of the whole, with the proportion of private enterprises' self-owned brand products increasing to 22.7% year-on-year, and the import and export of cross-border e-commerce increasing by 14.4% year-on-year. The export of "new three products" increased by 41.7% year-on-year, and the export value maintained double-digit growth for 14 consecutive quarters......
What is more convincing than data is the personal experience of foreign trade enterprises.
"As far as the home appliance industry is concerned, the advantage of Chinese enterprises going overseas is no longer a single supply chain cost advantage, it used to be more about fighting price, and now it is the 'three high' advantages of high technology content, high added value and high quality. Fang Xueyu said.
This is Fang Xueyu, president of Hisense International Marketing Company. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Yehua
For example, third-party data shows that $500 is the price difference between low-end and mid-to-high-end home appliances. In the first 11 months of 2023, the sales volume of Hisense's products above $500 increased by 70% year-on-year, and the sales of Hisense laser TVs in Germany, France, Italy and other markets increased by more than 100% year-on-year.
On September 1, 2023, visitors watched the ULED X reference video TV in the Hisense booth area of the International Consumer Electronics Show in Berlin, Germany. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ren Pengfei
Large-size TVs, multi-door refrigerators and other household appliances are sold well in the European and American markets, and the business covers 126 countries that jointly build the "Belt and Road", and overseas e-commerce integrates online and offline development...... In recent years, Hisense has increased innovation and research and development, Rio Tinto overseas emerging markets, and continues to climb to the upstream of the value chain.
Hisense's pace of increasing global layout,It is a true portrayal of many foreign trade enterprises to speed up going out to grab orders and expand the market,It is also a strong confirmation of the effectiveness of a series of policies to stabilize the structure of foreign trade。
The "Opinions on Promoting the Stable Scale and Optimal Structure of Foreign Trade" was promulgated, the number of China's pilot free trade zones was improved and expanded to 22, the pilot projects for high-level opening up of cross-border trade and investment were expanded, the "Several Measures for Accelerating the Integrated Development of Domestic and Foreign Trade" were issued, and economic and trade events such as the CIIE, the CIFTIS, the Digital Trade Fair, and the Canton Fair were successfully held...... China has stepped up trade policy support to help enterprises stabilize orders and expand markets.
This is the comprehensive exhibition area of the 2023 CIFTIS National Convention Center (taken on September 2, 2023). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Xin
In November 2023, China-US trade in goods increased by 2.7% year-on-year, ending six consecutive months of year-on-year decline, while China's imports and exports to Latin America, Africa and Central Asia increased by 9.3%, 8.4% and 43% respectively during the same period.
"With the improvement of China's own competitiveness and changes in the international situation, a global manufacturing network based on China's strong manufacturing capabilities may be formed. Zhang Wei said that in the future, China's trade and investment advantages may expand to the breadth and depth of the world.
We will strengthen high-level opening-up, cultivate new momentum, and reshape new advantages
The Politburo meeting held in April 2023 proposed to "give more importance to attracting foreign investment", and the Politburo meeting held in July 2023 proposed to "take multiple measures at the same time to stabilize the basic market of foreign trade and foreign investment". The Central Economic Work Conference held at the end of 2023 proposed to "expand high-level opening-up" and "consolidate the basic market of foreign trade and foreign investment".
"This series of deployments is in the same vein, and we continue to release positive signals of expanding opening up and vigorously attracting foreign investment, which is to give foreign investors stable expectations and hedge the 'uncertainty' of the external environment with the 'certainty' of opening up. Zhu Bing said.
Zhu Bing believes that the Central Economic Work Conference focuses on the concerns and demands of multinational enterprises, and a series of deployments are highly targeted, which are mainly reflected in three aspects: first, to further relax market access; second, to ensure the access after access; and third, to solve the problem of fair competition.
In 2023, the Ministry of Commerce has achieved remarkable results in the innovative "Year of Investing in China" series of activities, and in the first 11 months, more than 500 new foreign-funded projects of more than US$100 million have been added across the country.
This is the venue of the "Year of Investing in China" service industry expansion and opening up promotion conference taken on September 3, 2023. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ju Huanzong
Zhu Bing said that the Ministry of Commerce is working with various departments and regions to implement the "Opinions of the State Council on Further Optimizing the Environment for Foreign Investment and Increasing the Efforts to Attract Foreign Investment", promote the cross-border flow of data, "production in China" and other supporting measures to speed up the implementation, especially in government procurement, bidding and standard formulation, treat domestic and foreign-funded enterprises equally, and comprehensively protect the national treatment of foreign-funded enterprises.
The outside world is concerned about how foreign trade enterprises can find new growth points this year and even longer in the future?
"There must be a ceiling on the demand for some 'old' products in the international market. Zhang Wei said that in the overall saturation of the global market, innovation is particularly crucial.
Zhang Wei believes that the Central Economic Work Conference proposed to "accelerate the cultivation of new momentum for foreign trade", including the expansion of intermediate goods trade, service trade, digital trade, and cross-border e-commerce exports, which is very accurate in positioning and judgment, and plays a very good role in promoting the development of foreign trade in the future. "We also look forward to the future of not only the 'new three', but also the 'new five' and 'new six' products. ”
On November 23, 2023, at the Silk Road E-commerce Pavilion of the 2nd Global Digital Trade Expo held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, cross-border e-commerce carried out live sales. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xu Yu
"Hisense will increase innovation in high-end, green, and intelligent home appliances, and further improve the ability of products to go overseas at a premium. Fang Xueyu said.
The guests at the meeting all believed that the steady expansion of institutional opening up will open up new space for the development of foreign trade and foreign investment.
Not long ago, the State Council issued the "Overall Plan for Promoting High-level Institutional Opening-up in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone in Comprehensively Aligning with International High-standard Economic and Trade Rules", proposing 80 measures.
Zhao Yugang said that in the next step, the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone should promote institutional opening-up with a higher level of stress testing, so that factor resources can flow more efficiently, promote in-depth reform with greater efforts to take the lead and try first, where the market demand is, the limit of stress testing will be there, and help high-quality development with a wider range of experiments and explorations, so as to attract more new formats and new models of development.
"China's opening up to the outside world has gone through the stage of relying solely on factors and low costs to win. Zhang Wei said that China is now not playing a "single competition" but an "all-round competition", including higher cost performance, perfect industrial facilities and a good business environment, which will give all kinds of enterprises greater room for growth.
Text reporters: Xie Xiyao, Pan Jie, Zou Duowei
Video director: Xiao Zhengqiang, Li Chang, Du Rui, Li Hengyi
Poster design: Jiang Zihan
Editors: Du Yu, Zhou Yihang, Qi Wenjuan, Cheng Hao, Jiang Ziwei
Co-ordinator: Wang Jie, Fang Sixian