China Development Forum 2024: realistic takeaways

Editor's Note: The author is President of the Institute of International Relations and Media Research (IIRMR). The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of Gwadar Pro.

Amid sinister speculations by the West showing China's growth in the bad light and demonizing China's exponential opening up to the world, China Development Forum 2024 has reinfused the sense of "holistic facilitations" and "package of peace of mind" for foreign investors offering them level-paying, law-based and conducive business environment in China.

The set of facilitations and package of peace of mind are a part of continuation of confidence building measures that manifest China's determination to furnish innovative opening-up and let foreign investors to deepen their footholds in China.

Confidence-building measures encompass plenty of steps that include expanding investment access in high-tech and financial areas, increasing policy and tax support, promoting fair competition, fostering data and business personnel flows, and aligning domestic rules with high-level international trade rules.

Brimming with upbeat about China's deep integration with international business climate, the two-day China Development Forum 2024 that concluded on March 25 has also fined tune new level of cordiality with global business players to provide them more opportunities to enter and participate in the Chinese market through expanded access and reduce their operating costs.

The fact-based narrative built during Forum aims to improve the operating environment for foreign companies and enhance the cost-efficiency of foreign investment in China. It also constitutes that China will support data flows between foreign companies in China and their headquarters, and promote and ensure orderly cross-border flows of data related to research and development, production and sales. Measures supporting data flows between foreign-invested enterprises and their headquarters will enhance global resource utilization, decision-making efficiency and demonstrate China's commitment to data security and privacy.

As a part of confidence building measures, China will also provide more convenience for foreign nationals to work and live in the country, facilitating their business travel. China will also accelerate the resumption of international flights at key aviation hubs such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province.

Facilitating business personnel exchanges, such as extending visa validity periods and resuming international flights, strengthens cooperation between Chinese and foreign enterprises reflects China's openness to international exchanges.

China Development Forum 2024 has also instilled the sense of encouraging foreign firms to expand investment in high-tech industries and grants foreign investment certain policy support for participating in key semiconductor, biomedicine and high-end equipment projects.  Support will be given to foreign-invested enterprises to participate equally in national key research and development programs and other national science and technology programs.

Epic Forum aired a message to the world that China has always been open to global free trade and is willing to provide opportunities in the Chinese market for advanced technologies, rather than hoarding them with a hegemonic mindset. China will also expand the entry of foreign financial institutions into the banking and insurance sectors, broaden the scope of foreign financial institutions participating in the domestic bond market, and further implement the pilot program for qualified overseas limited partners to invest in China.

Another confidence booster was felt in the China Development Forum 2024 that China is accelerating to publicize the negative list for foreign investment for 2024, a move to further promote the nation's cross-border service trade and high-quality opening-up.

China Development Forum 2024 has validated the slogan that China is the land of the best opportunities for foreign investors due to qualitative business eco-system.

In this regard Lin Jian, spokesperson from China's Foreign Ministry during regular briefing said China's economy contributed to one-third of global growth with an impressive growth rate of 5.2 percent. This year, the country has set a growth target of around 5 percent, giving the international community a confidence boost against the headwinds facing the world economy, he added.

A number of international mainstream media outlets noted that China's economy achieved a stable start in 2024, and an IMF report predicted that China would be the main contributor to global growth this year. Executives from HSBC and other financial institutions said that China's economy has entered a benign development track now, and that China is still a hot spot for foreign-invested enterprises to invest, according to Lin. In January this year, China welcomed 4,588 new foreign-invested enterprises, up 74.4 percent year-on-year. Investment in China from Western developed countries have increased significantly, Lin added.

This figure shows that China's door to foreign investment will only continue to open wider. With the sustained growth of the Chinese economy and its expanding market, China will provide more business opportunities and development space for foreign enterprises.

According to the International Financial Forum, China contributed 32 percent to the global economic growth in 2023 and remains the largest engine of world development.

The world's confidence in China is rooted in China's economic strategic consistency, said Khin Maung Soe, former advisor of Myanmar Institute of Strategic and International.

Similarly, Jean Christophe Iseux von Pfetten, chairman of the Institute for East-West Strategic Studies in Britain, noted that good decisions such as nurturing and strengthening the private economy are welcomed not only by the Chinese themselves but also by foreign entrepreneurs.

The China Development Forum has become one of the top platforms in the world economic circle today, and an important reason is that China's policy orientation provides important reference for the development of the world economy. Indermit Gill, chief economist of the World Bank Group and senior vice president for development economics, emphasized that the 2020s should have been a transformative decade for development, but without a major course correction, the 2020s will go down as "a decade of wasted opportunity." The "new quality productive forces" proposed by the Chinese government is not only the engine for achieving high-quality development for China, but also the direction that the global economy collectively looks forward to.

Since the beginning of this year, China has been making frequent big moves in promoting high-level opening-up to the outside world, striving to improve the business environment, expand market access, strengthen intellectual property protection, and promote the signing of free trade agreements. This has provided a more stable and solid market environment and legal protection for multinational companies to develop in China. The new achievements that China has continuously made in technological innovation, such as telecommunications, artificial intelligence, and new energy, have greatly expanded the cooperation between China and multinational companies. China's consumption upgrade, green development, etc., all cannot be separated from the participation and contribution of multinational companies. The combination of the Chinese economy and multinational companies has infinite possibilities.

For the world, the massive opportunities generated by China, as an economic entity of such scale, in nurturing and developing new quality productive forces, are a blue ocean that can influence many years to come. The cooperation between Huawei and multinational companies such as Ericsson and Nokia in the field of 5G technology has jointly promoted the development of the global 5G industry. In addition, Chinese new energy companies have cooperated with multinational automakers in the development and production of new energy vehicles, intelligent driving, and other fields, achieving mutual benefits. These stories of mutual achievement and mutual benefit will become more common.

The China Development Forum has become one of the top platforms in the world economic circle today, and an important reason is that China's policy orientation provides important reference for the development of the world economy.