A view of Shanghai Photo: VCG
On Friday morning, President Xi Jinping met with representatives of the international business community at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. More than 40 global chairmen and chief executive officers of foreign businesses as well as representatives of business councils attended the meeting. This high-level meeting has attracted widespread attention and interpretation from international media. It demonstrated China's firm determination to further expand high-level opening-up and sent a clear message to the world from the highest level: Embracing China is embracing opportunities, believing in China is believing in a better tomorrow, and investing in China is investing in the future.
In the meeting, President Xi highlighted the role of foreign businesses by using the term "important participants" three times. He closely linked foreign enterprises to the Chinese modernization drive, reform and opening-up and innovation, as well as China's interconnectivity with the world and integration into economic globalization. This not only highly affirms the historical role of foreign businesses but also expresses earnest expectations for these "fellow travelers." President Xi also pointed out the four major advantages that make China a favored choice for foreign investment and business operations: a vast stage for business development, vast market prospects, stable policy outlook and a secure environment. He emphasized that "China has been and will remain an ideal, secure, and promising destination for foreign investors." These statements demonstrate that China's commitment to expanding high-level opening-up is not a stopgap measure but a long-term strategy with a vision for the world, the future and common development.
President Xi's important remarks have both broad historical depth and strong practical relevance. President Xi pointed out the significant responsibility of multinational companies in maintaining the global economic order. They are expected to safeguard the multilateral trading system, maintain the stability of global industrial and supply chains, protect the international environment for openness and cooperation, and advance economic globalization in the right direction. This call has received widespread attention and reporting from international media and is regarded as an important voice for stabilizing global trade in the current environment. It also shows that foreign businesses are not only "participants" in China's development but also drivers of historical trends. Their cooperation with China is not only at the economic level but also carries epochal significance in terms of values.
In recent days, China's interactions with foreign investors and businesses have been notably eye-catching. From March 23 to 24, the China Development Forum Annual Conference 2025 was held in Beijing, with more than 100 official foreign representatives from international organizations and Fortune 500 multinational companies attending, covering industries such as finance, insurance, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, energy, minerals and food. "Believing in China" and "open cooperation is the way to win-win results" were the shared voice of foreign attendees.
Meanwhile, the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2025, which concluded on Friday in South China's Hainan Province, also saw an in-depth dialogue about China's economy and global cooperation. From Asia to the world, the high quality of China's economy offers new opportunities and injects stability and positive energy - such a view is increasingly gaining recognition.
China is shaping a new paradigm of cooperation through institutional opening-up, creating a transparent, stable, and predictable "innovative development oasis" for global capital. Keen investors have already recognized the value surge brought by new quality productive forces. In areas such as new-energy vehicles, power batteries, artificial intelligence and quantum communication, business opportunities generated by the transformation of innovative potential have attracted numerous foreign enterprises to compete for a presence, becoming a new feature of China's market appeal. Benefiting from China's growing economy and technological advancements, foreign financial institutions like Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and UBS have issued research reports upgrading their ratings of Chinese stocks. Meanwhile, HSBC, ANZ and others have also raised their forecasts for China's GDP over the past month.
Amid increasing external uncertainties and instabilities, China steadily maintains a strong attraction for foreign investment, and this can be attributed to three key "steadies." First, China's pace of advancing high-level opening-up is very steady. Second, the country's vast market size and well-established industrial base continue to steadily release dividends. Third, China's ability to firmly handle its domestic affairs and effectively address internal and external risks and challenges is steady.
China's persistently growing attractiveness is not a short-term momentum but a historical trend. This trend stems from the strategic opportunities brought by China's greater commitment to opening-up and its economic transformation, as well as from the profound synergy between global industrial changes and China's high-quality development.
Faced with current global challenges, China is rising to the occasion with even greater determination to expand opening-up and work with the international community to safeguard an open, inclusive environment for international cooperation. Advancing economic globalization in the right direction is China's promise to the world, and in return, it strengthens China's attractiveness.
It is foreseeable that as China's economy continues to grow and its level of opening-up increases, the magnetic attraction of its market to foreign capital will further strengthen, contributing even more to global economic prosperity and stability. China welcomes more foreign businesses to invest in China and jointly write the story of mutually beneficial and win-win development.
