"Optional" upgraded to "Mandatory" Multinational companies are optimistic about the Chinese market

On March 26, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, He Yongqian, stated at a regular press conference that “many multinational companies are investing in China, transitioning from being a ‘optional’ resource allocation to a ‘necessary’ choice for strategic development.” She introduced that recently, numerous global leaders from multinational companies such as Apple, Eli Lilly, BASF, Volkswagen, Bosch, and Alfam were visiting China intensively, along with representatives from business associations like the US-China Business Council. Among them, many visited the Ministry of Commerce for candid and practical communication, all highly recognizing the strong resilience and innovative vitality of the Chinese economy, the advantages of a massive market, and the continuously optimized business environment, expressing that they will position China as an innovative base for the global development of multinational companies.

He Yongqian further introduced that recently, many multinational companies have announced plans to further expand their investments in China. For example, Eli Lilly plans to invest $3 billion in China over the next decade to expand production, Novo Nordisk is preparing to expand its production base in Guangzhou; Schneider Electric announced the construction of two new factories in Xiamen and Wuxi and the upgrade of its R&D center in Beijing. Multinational companies are demonstrating their willingness and confidence to deeply cultivate the Chinese market through concrete actions.

He Yongqian stated that this year marks the beginning of the “14th Five-Year Plan.” Recently, the national Two Sessions were successfully held, reviewing and approving the outline of the “14th Five-Year Plan.” The implementation of the outline will lay a solid foundation for China to basically achieve socialist modernization and provide enormous incremental market opportunities for multinational companies developing in China.

More benefits from opening up are continuously being released. He Yongqian said that the Ministry of Commerce will work with relevant localities and departments to thoroughly implement the decisions and deployments of the Central Committee, unswervingly expand high-level opening up, deepen the reform of the foreign investment promotion system and mechanisms, effectively implement policies supporting foreign investment, such as the catalog of encouraged foreign investment industries, tax credits for reinvestment, and foreign-funded R&D centers, strengthen service guarantees for multinational companies’ investment projects in China, continuously update the list of key foreign-funded projects, and provide strong support in areas such as cross-border data flow, R&D innovation, and talent introduction, assisting more foreign-funded projects to land and flourish.