Lujiazui, a financial zone in Shanghai Photo: VCG

While Western media outlets claimed China's economic momentum is weakening, more and more multinationals' CEOs and other senior executives have been in China recently in a rush to express their confidence and optimism about China's development prospects. The comparison highlights the resilient nature of the Chinese economy in its new development stage, as well as the short-sightedness of some naysayers.

Latest data from China's National Bureau of Statistics showed on Thursday that the country's value added industrial output increased by 3.5 percent year-on-year in May, while retail sales expanded by 12.7 percent year-on-year. 

The figures, which Reuters said both missed forecasts, appear to support what some Western media outlets have hyped about China's slowing economic growth these days. For instance, The Wall Street Journal just ran an article entitled "China's Recovery Is in Real Peril Now," amid a new wave of criticism badmouthing China's economy.

Strangely, however, the US and European business community's enthusiasm for the Chinese market has not waned at all. On Wednesday night, Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates tweeted that he had arrived in Beijing for the first time since 2019. Before him, a flurry of CEOs and senior executives from large-scale multinationals, covering consumer electronics, technology, automotive, and finance, among others, already visited China. Among them, some of the high-profile names are Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon, ASML's CEO Peter Wennink, and JPMorgan Chase & Co's CEO Jamie Dimon.

If China's economic prospects are really as bleak as some Western media outlets have suggested, with foreign companies eyeing to move their plants to India and Southeast Asia, then why did so many CEOs and executives come to China? Have they all misjudged China's economic recovery?

Surely not. Top business leaders are acute on opportunities, and they are all aware that the development opportunities in China's economic recovery cannot be missed or their businesses will be left behind. 

Western media's analysis of the Chinese economy is often unreliable, because they always exaggerate the negative side, hyping the "China collapse" theory. If investors believe them, they will miss the opportunity to gain.

China remains one of the largest markets in the world, meaning that there is still a lot of room for foreign companies to develop. Moreover, China has continued its push to open up to the outside world, with its comprehensive business environment becoming more aligned to international standards. And the Chinese government's push for its economic restructuring, consumption upgrading, and innovation-driven development has also offered opportunities for foreign companies. 

Of course, there is no denying that the Chinese economy does face a variety of internal and external challenges, but there are also bright spots. China has entered a new stage of development, and the transition from high-speed growth to high-quality one will improve the economic structure and quality. China's medium- and high-end manufacturing sector is showing strong momentum. For instance, electric vehicles contributed greatly to the rapid growth of China's automobile exports this year.

Those with ideologically tinted glasses tend to focus only on the difficulties and completely ignore the opportunities behind them. The root cause of their short-sightedness and misjudgment is the misguided attempt to pander to a political atmosphere of being tough on China in exchange for attention.

But markets are confident about the prospects for China's economic recovery, which is why officials and CEOs around the world are looking to China for closer cooperation and communication. In front of their enthusiasm about the Chinese market, the naysayers' short-sightedness and sinister intentions are both laughable and pathetic.