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The View | How creating a better business environment can boost foreign investment in China
- It is essential to welcome innovation-driven multinational enterprises by creating a more fair and open business environment to promote China’s development
- Attracting more multinational enterprises to develop in China is an important way to nurture friendly and stable relations between China and other countries
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Last year was a milestone for China as it become the world’s largest recipient of foreign direct investment for the first time. Foreign investment in China reached US$144.37 billion.
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Recent data speaks to China’s growing appeal for foreign investment. According to the Ministry of Commerce, the actual use of foreign investment nationwide from January to June this year was 607.84 billion yuan (US$94.1 billion), a 28.7 per cent year-on-year increase and 27.1 per cent over the same period in 2019.
By the end of 2019, the number of multinational companies investing and operating in China had exceeded 1 million. More than 490 of the world’s top 500 companies have invested in China, with multinational enterprises increasingly taking China as an important part of their globalisation strategy.
The enthusiasm of multinational enterprises to invest in China, despite the global pandemic, comes from their long-term optimism about the Chinese market. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China’s gross domestic product grew 7.9 per cent in the second quarter of 2021, up from 3.2 per cent for same period last year, demonstrating the resilience and potential of the Chinese economy.
This potential is buttressed by the nation’s 1.4 billion people, a middle class of nearly 400 million people, and complete industrial value chains and supporting facilities. Cutting-edge technology and artificial intelligence have generated new impetus for China’s economy, as have the government’s endeavours to improve the nation’s business environment.
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China’s economy rose 7.9 per cent year on year in the second quarter of 2021
China’s economy rose 7.9 per cent year on year in the second quarter of 2021
Also, the efficient control of the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the stability of the Chinese market, a relative advantage compared to other economies.
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