Global firms keen on fresh opportunities

China's unwavering commitment to opening-up will propel new industrialization, green growth and digital transformation, showcasing the nation's growing strength in innovation and demand-driven productivity and creating fresh opportunities for global businesses, said top executives of leading multinational corporations on Monday.

Speaking at the China Development Forum 2025, held in Beijing on Sunday and Monday, the executives emphasized that as China shifts toward innovation-driven and green growth, foreign companies are committed to working with local partners, investing in high-end manufacturing, artificial intelligence and service industries, and strengthening their supply chain capabilities within the country.

During a symposium on the sidelines of the forum on Monday, Li Yongjie, deputy international trade representative of the Ministry of Commerce, outlined the country's next steps. Li said China will further advance comprehensive pilot programs to open up the services sector, promote the orderly opening of industries such as the internet and culture, and expand access to key areas including telecommunications, healthcare and education.

Encouraged by these efforts, Christophe Weber, president, CEO and representative director of Takeda Pharmaceutical Co, said his company will make targeted investments in data and digital solutions in China to unleash the power of new technology for the future of healthcare.

In January, the Japanese company announced the signing of an investment cooperation agreement to establish its China innovation center in Chengdu, Sichuan province. The facility will focus on digital healthcare innovation and will develop solutions using big data and artificial intelligence.

Danish technology and engineering conglomerate Danfoss Group has also seen strong momentum in sectors aligned with China's development priorities, with 70 percent year-on-year growth in its data center business and 29 percent in its marine business in China in 2024.

Kim Fausing, president and CEO of Danfoss, said the group will further scale up its presence in China in 2025 and beyond. The company will start mass production later this year at its campus in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, producing insulated gate bipolar transistor modules and electric and hybrid power train systems. This follows the launch in January of its newly upgraded application development center in Suzhou, Jiangsu.

Acknowledging the shift in foreign investment patterns in China, John Quelch, executive vice-chancellor and American president of Duke Kunshan University in Jiangsu, said China's renewed commitment to opening up to foreign investment — backed by consistent government support and a more level playing field — is highly encouraging.

"With the country's growing innovation capabilities, foreign investment is increasingly focused on collaborative research and development activities, rather than being limited to manufacturing alone," he said.

Jean-Pascal Tricoire, chairman of French industrial group Schneider Electric, said that with the development of digital technology, China's cultivation of new quality productive forces is not only driving the rise of the nation's emerging and future industries, but also transforming and upgrading traditional industries.

A total of 7,574 foreign-invested enterprises were newly established in China in the first two months of this year, representing year-on-year growth of 5.8 percent, statistics from the Ministry of Commerce showed.

Meanwhile, foreign-invested businesses in China saw their export value grow 6.9 percent year-on-year to 1.08 trillion yuan ($148.9 billion), according to the General Administration of Customs.

Expressing concern over rising global protectionism, Oliver Zipse, board chairman of Germany's BMW AG, said that economic growth thrives through opening, not closing.

Zipse warned that such measures will diminish prosperity for all, emphasizing that the best response to decoupling or de-risking is more cooperation, not less.

Antoine de Saint-Affrique, CEO of Danone SA, a French multinational food products company, said that given China's economic significance, a healthy and growing China benefits the entire world.