A light rail train crosses the city of Wuhu, East China's Anhui Province, on July 17, 2024. Photo: VCG

As the third plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee is underway in Beijing, many around the world are closely following the crucial meeting for signals of China's reform and opening-up agenda, with many foreign businesses expressing confidence in China's long-term development prospects. 

Multiple foreign enterprises interviewed by the Global Times said they are upbeat about the long-term stability and vast growth potential of the world's second-largest economy. They are confident that the country's institutional opening-up and the development of new quality productive forces will create more opportunities for the world, while commending China's efforts to further improve business environment for foreign enterprises. 

The third plenary session, often known as the third plenum, is expected to primarily examine issues related to further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing high-quality development of the Chinese economy. It will not only outline a new blueprint for China's economic and social development, but also create new opportunities and inject strong confidence to foreign enterprises through high-level opening-up.

Highlighting China's firm commitment to reform and opening-up, a CPC Central Committee Political Bureau meeting held on April 30 pointed out that reform and opening-up is an effective instrument for the cause of the Party and the people to make great strides in keeping up with the times, while calling for intensified efforts to attract and use foreign investment, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

China's opening-up, innovation

"China has nowadays become and will continue to be one of the most strategically important markets for Fonterra globally," Teh-han Chow, Fonterra Greater China CEO, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Chow said the company appreciates the Chinese government's efforts in creating a favorable environment for foreign enterprises to invest and operate. China's vast market, growing economy and high-quality development provide ample opportunities to Fonterra and other New Zealand companies, in expanding their presence and success in this market, Chow said. "We see China not only as an engine for market growth but also as a key driver of innovation and technological advancement.''

South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday that a group of top executives of heavyweight US companies, including Goldman Sachs, Starbucks Corp, Nike Inc and Qualcomm Inc will visit Beijing next week following the conclusion of the third plenum to get first-hand insights.

Analysts said this underscores the importance foreign enterprises attached to the critical meeting.

"The third plenum will showcase China's resolve in continuously boosting reform and opening-up. It's expected that multiple reform plans will be made at the critical meeting to encourage innovations, spark market vitality and improve business environment. China will share more opportunities with the world thanks to its high-quality development and high-level opening-up," Yang Quan, a professor with Department of International Economics and Business at Xiamen University, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Since the third plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, China has taken a series of policies and measures to advance a broader agenda of opening-up across more areas and in greater depth in a bid to expand new growth room for the economy.

China International Import Expo, China International Supply Chain Expo, and China International Consumer Products Expo … China held a variety of international events to share opportunities with the world. The country has also been working to expand institutional opening-up with regard to rules, regulations, management and standards in order to improve the level and quality of trade and investment cooperation.

In March, the State Council, the country's cabinet, issued an action plan to steadily promote high-level opening-up and make greater efforts to attract and utilize foreign investment.

China, as a popular foreign investment destination, brims with new attractiveness today, thanks to the country's development of new quality productive forces, complete industrial system and vast market, Yang said. "China's sustained economic growth, along with the restructuring of global value chains, will attract continuous inflow of foreign investment in the long run." 

French multinational Schneider Electric told the Global Times that it will continue to cultivate the Chinese market and expand investment in new energy projects in China so as to help the formation of new quality productive forces.

In September, Schneider Electric's innovation center in Shanghai will be completed, which will gather together over 200 talents to focus on the research and development of cutting-edge fields including photovoltaic, wind power and energy storage.

Since the beginning of the new era, China has deepened economic reform and constantly opened up new areas and new arenas in development. Currently, China is taking a leading role globally in the development of new energy. How to catch up with China's development pace in the field and meet growing demand with energy innovations will be the focus of Schneider Electric, said Ren Jing, senior vice president of Schneider Electric.

Vote of confidence in China

China's earnest actions to expand high-level opening-up as well as a series of policies and measures to improve domestic environment and ensure stable economic recovery have made foreign enterprises cast a vote of confidence in China's economic prospects and market opportunities.

A day after China reported robust 5 percent year-on-year GDP growth for the first half of 2024, the IMF said on Tuesday its forecast for China's GDP growth for 2024 remains unchanged at 5 percent, pointing to a steady rebound in domestic consumption and a surge in exports.

Liu Jing, HSBC's Chief Economist for Greater China, said in a note sent to the Global Times on Monday that HSBC maintains the same forecast it made for China's economic growth for 2024 in the beginning of the year - the country's real GDP growth rate is expected to reach around 5 percent.

"China remains an important engine of global manufacturing production," Liu said, noting that export growth remains a bright spot in China's economic development.

Global trade levels are now at an all-time high and China's competitiveness is growing in all sectors. Despite reports of trade restrictions in some countries, China's importance as a major supplier of goods to the world is growing and its market share is expanding, according to Liu. Chinese exports are also important to the global economy as the price advantage of Chinese goods helps to alleviate price pressures in many economies, she said.

The latest data released by the General Administration of Customs showed that the country's goods trade volume expanded 6.1 percent year-on-year in the first half of this year to reach 21.17 trillion yuan ($2.91 trillion), providing additional momentum for economic recovery.

Looking ahead, there is solid basis that the Chinese economy can achieve stable GDP growth of around 5 percent in the third quarter, Zhong Zhengsheng, chief economist at PingAn Securities, told the Global Times.

On the one hand, the country's infrastructure investment is expected to marginally pick up, whereas investment in the real estate and manufacturing sectors will likely remain stable amid steady issuance of government bonds and support policies, according to Zhong. He added that the country's exports remain resilient in the short term.

Zhong expressed expectations for plans to boost a new round of reform of the fiscal and tax systems. "If relevant policies can be implemented at an early day, they may help revive residents' spending willingness, and thereby return third-quarter GDP growth rate to above 5 percent year-on-year," he said.