Optimization of Foreign Investment Structure in China
Since the beginning of this year, facing the severe and complex international situation, China has steadfastly deepened its opening-up to the outside world, continuously optimized the environment for foreign investment, focused on enhancing the pertinence of relevant measures, actively addressed the problems and demands of foreign investors, and promoted their confidence, stable situation, and structural optimization in investing in China.
More targeted measures
Since the beginning of this year, various regions and departments have launched a series of positive measures to optimize the foreign investment environment based on their own work responsibilities.
The State Council recently issued the "Opinions on Further Optimizing the Foreign Investment Environment and Increasing the Attraction of Foreign Investment", proposing 24 policy measures from 6 aspects, focusing on solving the difficulties and pain points of foreign investment and operation. The relevant departments quickly proposed clear measures to implement the Opinion. For example, the Opinion clearly states that foreign-invested enterprises are guaranteed to participate in government procurement activities in accordance with the law. The Ministry of Finance stated that it will actively promote the revision of the Government Procurement Law and the coordination and unification of the Government Procurement Law and the Tendering and Bidding Law in accordance with relevant requirements, clarify specific standards for "production within China" in the field of government procurement, and carry out special inspections and other measures to better ensure equal participation of domestic and foreign enterprises in government procurement activities.
The Opinion also fully supports the increasingly strong innovation and research and development needs of foreign-funded enterprises in China. Zhou Mi, a researcher at the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, believes that supporting foreign investment in establishing research and development centers in China, collaborating with domestic enterprises to carry out technology research and industrialization applications, encouraging foreign investment enterprises and their established research and development centers to undertake major scientific research projects, will create conditions for foreign enterprises to play a more active role in China's innovation field, and will also promote closer linkage between foreign enterprises and domestic enterprises in innovative projects.
At the local level, in March, Zhejiang Province issued the "Several Measures for Strengthening the Attraction and Utilization of Foreign Investment", proposing six measures to support the attraction and utilization of foreign investment, as well as work security plans; In May, Fujian Province issued several policy measures to promote the expansion, stability, stock improvement, and quality of foreign investment, proposing to create a first-class foreign investment environment, implement positive incentives for the use of foreign investment, and accelerate the landing and construction of key foreign investment projects
Enhanced confidence of foreign investors
A series of positive measures taken by the central and local governments have enhanced the confidence of foreign investment in China.
In mid August, AstraZeneca signed cooperation agreements with Qingdao High tech Industrial Development Zone, Taizhou Pharmaceutical Industry Park, and Wuxi High tech Zone, planning to further invest in the company's supply bases and production lines in Qingdao, Taizhou, and Wuxi. Wang Lei, Global Executive Vice President and President of International Business and China at AstraZeneca, stated that the measures taken by the Chinese government to optimize the foreign investment environment have sent a positive signal. Behind AstraZeneca's continuous increase in investment in China is its firm confidence in the Chinese economy.
On August 18th, Starbucks announced the establishment of the Starbucks China Innovation and Technology Center in Shenzhen, aimed at enhancing its technological capabilities and data infrastructure, further driving the digitalization process of its stores and multi-channel.
The "2023 Q2 China Foreign Investment Business Environment Research Report" released by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade shows that over 90% of surveyed foreign-funded enterprises are satisfied with the foreign investment policies introduced by China since the fourth quarter of 2022, and nearly 90% of surveyed foreign-funded enterprises are satisfied with the foreign investment measures introduced by local governments. According to data released by the Ministry of Commerce, there were 28406 newly established foreign-invested enterprises in China in the first seven months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 34%, indicating a positive trend of foreign investment in the Chinese market.
Improving the quality of investment attraction
Currently, the quality of investment attraction in China continues to improve and the structure continues to optimize. High tech industries such as advanced manufacturing and modern services have become popular areas for foreign investment.
According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, the actual use of foreign investment in high-tech industries increased by 3.8% year-on-year in the first seven months of this year, with high-tech manufacturing industry increasing by 25.3% year-on-year. A survey shows that "technological innovation and research and development" has been regarded as the most important development opportunity in China by foreign-funded enterprises interviewed for two consecutive years.
The continuous strengthening of foreign investment in high-tech industries in China highlights the continuous upgrading of China's industrial chain hierarchy, providing a good hardware environment for investment in high-tech industries. The development of high-tech industries requires higher resources such as knowledge, technology, and talent. Without corresponding industrial resources and supporting infrastructure, it is difficult to stimulate the enthusiasm of foreign investment.
In recent years, China's modern industrial system has become increasingly perfect, allowing global investors to see the favorable supporting conditions and huge development potential for the development of high-tech industries in China. In addition, a series of relevant measures introduced by China have played a significant guiding role in optimizing the structure of foreign investment.
The upcoming China International Fair for Trade in Services has attracted numerous foreign-funded enterprises in the high-tech field to participate. Xu Shaofeng, Senior Vice President of Schneider Electric and Head of Medium Voltage and Service Business in China, stated that in the Chinese market, digital technology is deeply integrating into the modern service industry, empowering the real economy to accelerate transformation and upgrading. Schneider Electric will seize the opportunities in the Chinese market and assist in the transformation and upgrading of China's industries.