Foreign firms show confidence in Chinese market

A worker counts Chinese currency renminbi at a bank in Linyi, East China's Shandong province. (Photo/Xinhua)

Foreign investment in China has increased since the country lifted its strict virus control measures. That shows the confidence foreign investors have in the Chinese market.

Their confidence stems from the prospects for the Chinese economy, which is expected to recover robustly this year. At present, the resumption of socioeconomic activities is proceeding in an orderly manner. Consumption, investment, and import and export are all expected to pick up in the first quarter.

Despite the growing risk of a global economic recession and other adverse factors, the world's second-largest economy has withstood all the pressure and continues to display its resilience.

The COVID-19 pandemic has not altered the advantage China has of its large-scale market. The most populous country on Earth has an expanding middle-income group that already comprises over 400 million people. It imports about $2.5 trillion of goods and services every year.

Moreover, it has the world's most comprehensive manufacturing industry with a complete industrial system. Since 2010, the value added of China's manufacturing industry has ranked first in the world for many years. In the first 10 months of last year, China's import volume reached 14.9 trillion yuan ($2.18 trillion), up 5.2 percent year-on-year.

China is now a major trading partner of more than 140 countries and regions, the world's largest trade hub in terms of trade in goods, and one of the world's largest destinations for foreign investment and one of the world's major sources of outbound investment.

China will continue to unswervingly pursue high-level opening-up, steadily expand its institutional openness based on rules, regulations, management and standards. It will also shorten the negative list for foreign investment access, better protect the rights and interests of foreign investors in accordance with the law, and foster a market-oriented, law-based and world-class business environment.

It is therefore widely predicted that the pace of foreign investment coming to the Chinese market will continue to accelerate.