Recently, when meeting with representatives of the international business community, the President of the Xi Jinping pointed out that China was, is and will be an ideal, safe and promising investment destination for foreign investors. To walk with China is to walk with opportunities, to believe in China is to believe in tomorrow, and to invest in China is to invest in the future. President Xi Jinping's important speech sent a clear signal of China's determination to expand high-level opening-up and support multinational enterprises to invest and do business in China, injecting a strong impetus to promote win-win economic cooperation between multinational enterprises and China.

As the world's second largest economy, China has a huge market size and a complete industrial chain system. China is also the only country in the world with all the industrial categories listed in the United Nations industrial classification, and the breadth and depth of the industrial chain provide foreign-funded enterprises with a full range of supporting support from raw materials to finished products. More than 1.4 billion people and a rapidly expanding consumer base have boosted the demand for high-quality goods and services, especially in the fields of high-end consumer goods, electronic products and automobiles, providing a huge market space for foreign enterprises. At the same time, China's booming digital economy ecology also provides foreign companies with market access and innovation opportunities, helping them achieve market penetration through local cooperation. Up to now, foreign investment in China has covered 20 industrial categories and 115 major categories, and the manufacturing sector covers 31 major categories and 548 sub-categories, fully demonstrating China's industrial chain advantages and market attractiveness.

At a time of profound changes in the global economic landscape, the Chinese government has always been committed to providing a stable, transparent and predictable business environment for foreign-invested enterprises. The "Action Plan for Stabilizing Foreign Investment in 2025" issued in February this year has clarified relevant contents. Generally speaking, on the one hand, we will make "subtraction" in the access to foreign investment, expand high-level opening up areas, including fully opening up the manufacturing industry, deepening the opening up of the service industry, supporting the implementation of wholly foreign-owned hospitals, value-added telecommunications, biotechnology and other projects, and expand pilot opening-up in telecommunications, medical care, education and other fields. On the other hand, do "addition" in the business environment, increase policy support, strengthen service guarantee, and solve the practical problems in the development of foreign-funded enterprises. In the future, China will form a combination of "1+N" policies to stabilize foreign investment through expanding pilot opening-up, optimizing the business environment, revising the catalogue of foreign investment industries and other supporting policies. These signals clearly convey China's confidence and determination to promote high-quality foreign investment, and provide a strong guarantee for foreign enterprises to deeply explore the Chinese market.

At present, global foreign direct investment has entered the stage of stock competition from flow competition, and the core of stable foreign investment is to stabilize stock. However, some developed countries have promoted the return of high-end manufacturing by restricting investment in China in key areas, strengthening investment review and high subsidies. Asean countries continue to increase their share of global FDI (international direct investment) with cheap labor, tax incentives and investment incentives, which further intensifies the competitive pressure on China to attract investment. In this regard, we urgently need to further improve the business environment, enhance the confidence of foreign investment, and stabilize the stock of foreign investment. For example, we will thoroughly implement the Regulations on Fair Competition Review and promote the development of a unified national market. We will simplify the approval process, optimize financial services, improve project filing, smooth the channels for foreign enterprises to reinvest in China, and make it easier for foreign enterprises to reinvest in China. In addition, relying on high-tech zones and industrial clusters to attract foreign investment, promote the cooperation of "Belt and Road" science and technology parks and advanced manufacturing clusters, improve supporting service capabilities, improve industrial chain collaboration, and reduce foreign investment operating costs. At the same time, we will deepen reform of high-standard international economic and trade rules, continue to actively promote accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Digital Economy Partnership, and foster a world-class business environment.

In recent years, China's investment structure has been continuously optimized, and foreign investment has gradually tilted toward high-tech and service industries. According to statistics, in 2024, the actual use of foreign capital in high-tech manufacturing accounted for 11.7% of the country's actual use of foreign capital, among which the actual use of foreign capital in medical equipment and instrumentation manufacturing, professional and technical services, and computer and office equipment manufacturing increased by 98.7%, 40.8% and 21.9%, respectively. These data show that the attractiveness of foreign investment in China continues to increase, and foreign investment is accelerating its flow to high value-added and high-tech fields, which is highly consistent with the direction of high-quality development of the Chinese economy. This requires us to further improve the structure of foreign investment and improve the quality of foreign investment.

We will deepen cooperation in industrial science and technology innovation, encourage foreign-invested enterprises to set up R&D centers in high-end manufacturing, artificial intelligence, biomedicine and other fields, and promote technology localization. We will support joint research and development between foreign-funded enterprises and domestic enterprises and research institutes to form an innovation ecosystem, and attract core technologies to land through policies such as tax incentives and research and development subsidies. We will optimize the foreign investment introduction strategy, give priority to attracting high-tech and environmentally friendly foreign enterprises, encourage them to promote advanced technologies and green production modes in the fields of new energy and low-carbon technology, and strengthen cooperation with domestic enterprises in the fields of smart factories and industrial Internet. Relying on iconic exhibitions such as the China International Fair for Trade and Investment and the China International Import Expo, we will build the brand of "Invest in China", promote exchanges and cooperation between foreign enterprises and the domestic market through multiple mechanisms such as roundtables and bank-enterprise docking, and enhance investment facilitation.

At a time when the global economy is full of uncertainties, China has created a broad space for foreign enterprises to develop with its ultra-large market, sound industrial chain system and continuously optimized policy environment. In the future, China will continue to open up to the outside world at a high level and provide more convenience and support for the development of foreign enterprises in China. For global companies, investing in China is not only an important choice to enter a dynamic market, but also to grow with the Chinese economy and win the future.

Source: SASAC of The State Council