Stable foreign investment: a thousand grinding and ten thousand blows return tenacity, and let the East, West, North and south wind prevail

Just as we look at a person's character by what he does in the trough, we look at the development potential of an economy by its performance in difficult times. Since the beginning of this year, the epidemic situation in China has shown a trend of repeated ups and downs and multi-point dissemination, especially in Shanghai, which has had a certain impact on China's economic development, but this has not affected the confidence of foreign-funded enterprises in the development of China. According to the data released by the Ministry of Commerce, in the first four months of this year, the actual amount of foreign capital used in China was 478.61 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.5%.
It is not easy to achieve such achievements. On the one hand, we are facing a great change that has not been seen in a century. The uncertainty and instability of the global economy make the investment of multinational corporations very cautious. In addition, some European and American developed countries have issued policies to encourage the return of manufacturing industry, which makes multinational corporations step up the adjustment of industrial chain and supply chain layout; On the other hand, the domestic and foreign enterprises, including domestic enterprises, have been able to improve their economic structure in recent years. In addition, affected by the epidemic, some foreign-funded enterprises choose to leave the Chinese market.

Of course, the increase in the use of foreign capital shows that some foreign-funded enterprises are willing to continue to settle in China and expand investment. According to the 2022 China business environment survey report released by the American Chamber of Commerce in China in March, China is still one of the top three investment destinations of 60% of enterprises' recent global investment plans, and 66% of enterprises plan to increase their investment in China this year. The China Council for the promotion of international trade announced that the domestic epidemic has brought challenges to the production and operation of foreign-funded enterprises in China since March, and some foreign-funded enterprises admitted that their revenue will be affected this year. However, the vast majority of foreign-funded enterprises in China said that China is still regarded as one of the major strategic markets.

In this coming and going, we can spy on the changes in the Chinese market in the eyes of foreign-funded enterprises: human intensive factories have been closed, and intelligent manufacturing workshops, data analysis centers, R & D centers, regional headquarters and market brand departments have come; Exports from China may have declined, but it has brought more abundant products to China's imports... The data released this time show that the actual use of foreign capital in high-tech industries increased by 45.6% year-on-year, including 36.7% in high-tech manufacturing and 48.3% in high-tech services.
Where does the confidence of foreign-funded enterprises in the Chinese market come from? It comes from their clear understanding of the underlying logic of China's economic development:
First, "the door of China's opening up will only open wider and wider". In recent years, China's negative list of foreign investment access has decreased from 93 to 33, a decrease of 66; The catalogue of foreign investment is encouraged to increase by 12%, and the total tariff level is reduced from 15% to 7.4%, which is lower than the 9.8% promised by China's accession to the WTO; There are also more and more open platforms. From the initial special economic zones, economic development zones and high-tech zones to today's pilot free trade zones and free trade ports, they provide a window for foreign-funded enterprises to enter the Chinese market; China has actively signed a number of high-level free trade agreements such as RCEP, which provides conditions for foreign-funded enterprises to radiate around based on the Chinese market.
Second, China's economic growth potential is still being released. Since the reform and opening up, China's economy has maintained double-digit high-speed growth for a long time, and has fallen to single digits in recent years, which is due to the increase of China's economic volume, the aging population, the adjustment of industrial structure and other factors, rather than uncontrollable risks. Even now, China's economy has maintained a certain degree of resilience. In particular, the proposal of building a new development pattern of double circulation provides an opportunity for foreign-funded enterprises to open up the Chinese market and other market resources, which is more convenient for them to adjust the layout of industrial chain and supply chain; Promoting common prosperity is conducive to strengthening China's middle class, improving people's income level and releasing huge consumption capacity; Building a national unified market is to open up the blocking points of the domestic market. In the future, as long as foreign-funded enterprises link to the market of a Chinese city, they will link to the national market; "Counting from the east to the west" and advance the layout of infrastructure investment will provide growth points for foreign-funded enterprises to layout new industries.
Third, the level of China's scientific and technological innovation ability has been continuously improved. Although China's demographic dividend is gradually disappearing, China's huge educated population is increasing. At present, the number of people with college education or above in China has reached 210 million and is expected to exceed 250 million in 2030, which means that China can provide a large number of high-quality talents such as R & D personnel, engineers and managers for foreign-funded enterprises. From a macro perspective, China has placed scientific and technological innovation in an important position and strengthened the protection of intellectual property rights. According to the data, China rose to 12th place in the global innovation index released by the World Intellectual Property Organization in 2021. Especially in the surging fourth industrial revolution, China has a large number of data and application scenarios, which will help foreign-funded enterprises stand on the top of the wave. In the past, foreign-funded enterprises came to China to see "made in China"; In the future, they are interested in "created in China + made globally".
It's tough after thousands of grinding and thousands of blows. It's the wind of the East, West, North and south. At present, the international situation is unpredictable, the virus has not disappeared, and China is under heavy pressure to stabilize foreign investment, but China's attraction to foreign investment remains unabated. For large multinational enterprise groups, the reason why they can achieve today's achievements is that they can see not only the present, but also the long term. Any investment decision they make should take into account the steady and sustainable development of the enterprise. This is very consistent with the underlying logic of China's economic development. Therefore, China's expansion of opening to the outside world and foreign-funded enterprises' investment in China are a two-way journey to a mutually successful future.