Tesla displays a vehicle suspension at the center of its booth at the ongoing China International Consumer Products Expo in Haikou, South China's Hainan Province, on April 12, 2023.Photo: Xie Jun/GT

Business cooperation is increasingly turning into the most stable part of China-US relations, as US brands from the luxury and IT sectors to cars click with Chinese consumers and express a long-term commitment to the local market at the ongoing China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE) in Haikou, South China's Hainan Province.

At this year's expo, US brands in different lines have brought their latest products and services. The brands, including Tesla, Dell, Estee Lauder, Starbucks and others have elaborately designed their pavilions to convey their brand essences to visitors.

Dell, for example, designed different scenarios, such as offices, camping and gaming rooms to illustrate the functions of its product lines. Tesla is displaying a vehicle suspension at the center of its pavilion to boast of the brand's car production technologies. Starbucks is bringing chairs, a coffee selling cart and a green carpet to simulate the outdoors.

A visitor looks at products displayed at the pavilion of Dell during the China International Consumer Products Expo on April 12, 2023. Photo: Xie Jun/GT

The Global Times saw lots of visitors experiencing the products or talking to brand representatives at the US pavilions.

Senior executives from many of those brands were very upbeat about the Chinese market as they said that Chinese consumers show encouraging characteristics like high acceptance of new products and technologies.

"Chinese consumers are often chasing the newest, fastest and most chic products. We have found that the speed of popularization for our products of the latest generation and highest performance is very fast in China. I think that speaks for the trend of consumption upgrade (in China)," Tom Chen, general manager of retail business, consumer and small business of Dell China, told the Global Times. 

Shadow Kong, regional general director at Tesla, expressed similar optimism over the prospects for China's consumption market. 

"As China's COVID policies enter a new phase, China's economy has shown signs of resilience and vigor. The restoration of production and living order is accelerating, the endogenous driving force of economic growth is constantly accumulating and strengthening, and domestic demand such as consumption and investment is gradually rebounding," Kong told the Global Times via a written statement. 

In the face of such a consumption recovery trend, many US brands revealed plans during or before the expo to increase investment in the Chinese market. A few days ago, Tesla announced that it will build a Megafactory in Shanghai to manufacture its energy storage product Megapack, and it expects to break ground in the third quarter of 2023. 

US fashion and lifestyle brand Tapestry, an exhibitor at the CICPE, disclosed that it would increase investment in Hainan and set up more than 10 new stores in the coastal province in the next three years, according to media reports. 

Some other US brands are speeding up tapping into the Chinese market. Intel recently set up an office for its integrated circuit business in Sanya, Hainan Province, which will carry out various activities. Meanwhile, McDonald's is expected to open more than 900 new restaurants in China, and the company is bullish on the market in the Chinese mainland for the long run, Zhang Jiayin, CEO of McDonald's China, said in March, the paper.cn reported. 

Chen from Dell didn't reveal the company's investment plans in China. But he said that it's certain that the company will bring the latest products to China in the shortest period of time. 

At a time when some people are still hyping the concept of an economic decoupling between China and the US, the US enterprises' actions are proof that such proposals are impossible to achieve, experts said. 

"China has a huge and constantly upgrading consumer market, with more than 400 million middle-income consumers, significantly supporting global consumption and high-quality economic development," Dong Shaopeng, a senior research fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

Gao Lingyun, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, said on Wednesday that China and the US have found a path for cooperation through the ongoing expo, as US enterprises can find markets with strong demand, while Chinese enterprises can take the opportunity to meet their consumption needs.

Dong added that US companies and investors can cooperate with their Chinese counterparts through diverse ways such as industry chain upgrading to boost profits with relatively low operating costs.