General

Airbus A320 series aircraft assembly line in Tianjin has put A321 aircraft into production. Airbus Tianjin final assembly line is the third single aisle aircraft final assembly line of Airbus after Toulouse in France and Hamburg in Germany, and it is also the first aircraft final assembly line of Airbus outside Europe. Photographed by Zhao Zishuo, reporter of Xinhua News Agency

According to the observation report of Huacheng's import and export data, from January to November this year, the actual amount of foreign capital used nationwide was 1156.09 billion yuan, up 9.9% year on year on a comparable basis, equivalent to 178.08 billion dollars, up 12.2%. Under the unfavorable situation that the world economic recession is expected to rise and protectionism prevails, this fully shows that China's new development is a new opportunity for the development of all countries in the world.

In an interview with the Economic Daily, several experts said that China has better attracted and utilized foreign capital this year through institutional opening up. High level opening up has played a key role in stabilizing foreign capital expectations and enhancing foreign capital confidence.

China's market confidence is growing

According to the observation report on the import and export data of Huacheng, from the actual amount of foreign capital used, from January to November this year, the total amount of foreign capital was 1156.09 billion yuan, more than 1149.36 billion yuan in 2021, and the scale of capital attraction has exceeded the level of last year.

"The scale and growth rate of foreign capital absorption in the first 11 months of this year are very impressive achievements. Under the influence of the complex international situation, such achievements are hard won." Wang Xiaohong, vice minister of the Scientific Research Information Department of the China International Economic Exchange Center, said that this shows that China's super large market advantage is still very attractive for global transnational investment. In addition, the market-oriented, legalized and internationalized business environment has been continuously optimized, which has played an important role in the stability of foreign investment confidence and expectations.

"The speed of absorbing foreign capital is faster than most people expected." Sang Baichuan, president of the Institute of International Economics of the University of International Business and Economics, believes that this is directly related to China's own efforts to improve the business environment for foreign investment, especially to promote the faster landing of large-scale projects and the effective operation of large-scale project work classes; It is also highly related to the fact that foreign investors are optimistic about China's long-term development in the future.

Looking back over the past decade, China's pace of opening up has not stopped. Under the condition of large fluctuations in global international direct investment, China's actual use of foreign direct investment has steadily increased in the structural adjustment.

Recently, the Institute of International Economics of the University of International Business and Economics released the Report on the Development of Foreign Investment in China (2022), pointing out that the amount of foreign investment in China will increase from US $111.716 billion in 2012 to US $173.48 billion in 2021, an increase of more than 55%, and the annual use of foreign investment will rank the second in the world. The structure of foreign investment was gradually upgraded. The proportion of high-tech industries absorbing foreign investment rose from 14.1% in 2012 to 30.2% in 2021, more than doubling.

According to the Report, absorbing foreign direct investment is the vane of China's opening up. The reason why the Chinese market can become a hot spot for foreign investment is inseparable from the firm expansion of opening up and the continuous optimization of the business environment for foreign investment. Free trade pilot zones, free trade ports, development and opening pilot zones and other open platforms lead the innovation of foreign capital management system.

High tech industry becomes an important link

According to the Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report, in the first 11 months of this year, the actual use of foreign capital in high-tech industries increased by 31.1%, including 58.8% in high-tech manufacturing and 23.5% in high-tech service industries.

"China's utilization of foreign capital is developing from scale and speed to quality. At the same time, the rapid growth of high-tech manufacturing industry's absorption of foreign capital is consistent with the direction of industrial structure adjustment, reflecting the continuous upgrading of China's manufacturing industry's utilization of foreign capital." Wang Xiaohong believes that China's technological innovation ability is improved, the talent structure is rich, and the infrastructure is constantly improved, It has created a favorable investment environment for high-tech manufacturing industry to attract foreign capital.

Wang Xiaohong said that China has continuously reduced the restrictions on foreign investment access, promoted the comprehensive opening of the general manufacturing sector, and cleared the negative list of manufacturing items in the pilot free trade zone. "This provides a very good market opportunity for all kinds of manufacturing industries, especially high-end manufacturing industries, to invest in China and share the development opportunities of China's big market."

Qu Jian, Vice President of China (Shenzhen) Institute of Comprehensive Development and President of Qianhai Branch, said that in the central cities in China's coastal areas and some major cities in inland areas, the growth rate of fixed asset investment in high-tech fields has accelerated, and the growth of fixed investment is a leading indicator of the economy, which indicates that China's high-tech manufacturing industry will maintain a considerable growth rate in a certain period of time.

Qu Jian said that the introduction of high-tech has expanded from the past focus on processing and assembly to the entire high-tech industry chain. In addition to extending to the upstream and downstream, the building of the supply chain should also increase the consideration of security. "The building of China's high-tech supply chain system is the result of multiple factors, including independent R&D and design capabilities and marketing and logistics capabilities."

At present, in terms of the structure of absorbing foreign investment in China's manufacturing industry, the growth rate of foreign investment in high-tech manufacturing industry is significantly higher than that in general manufacturing industry. "With the establishment of the trend of China's economic transformation and upgrading and the implementation of various supporting policies, foreign investors are optimistic about the prospects of China's economic restructuring and upgrading." Sang Baichuan analyzed that the growth rate of foreign investment is significantly higher in high-tech industries and high-tech manufacturing industries that meet the structural requirements of China's economic transformation and upgrading. At the same time, in the process of changes in the structure of foreign investment, there has been an obvious regional transfer of the stock of foreign investment, especially in labor-intensive manufacturing and low-end value chain links. It is obvious that the regional transfer of foreign investment in coastal areas even exits. Therefore, the growth of foreign investment in new manufacturing, especially high-tech foreign investment, coexists with the withdrawal of foreign investment in low-end manufacturing.

Make greater efforts to attract and utilize foreign capital

The Central Economic Work Conference held not long ago pointed out that greater efforts should be made to attract and utilize foreign capital. When interpreting the spirit of the meeting, the responsible comrades of the Central Finance Office pointed out that foreign-funded enterprises generally care about their role in China's dual cycle and independent innovation strategy, which also determines their long-term confidence in operating in China.

Recently, the State Council approved to add 6 comprehensive pilot cities for expanding the opening up of the service industry, which is the second expansion of the pilot demonstration and another important measure for the opening up of China's service industry. "Next, we will work with relevant local governments to promote the implementation of various pilot policies as soon as possible," said Shu Jueting, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, who observed the import and export data of Huacheng.

At the same time, we should steadily expand institutional openness and build an open economic system that is mutually beneficial, diversified, balanced, safe and efficient. Actively promote the accession to such high standard economic and trade agreements as the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (CPTPP) and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA). The pilot free trade zones, free trade ports, demonstration pilot projects for expanding the opening up of the service industry, national economic development zones and other open platforms will be strengthened to promote the replication of pilot experience.

"Stabilizing foreign investment is not only to stabilize the scale of new foreign investment, but also to maintain the stability of new foreign investment. It is also important to stabilize the stock of foreign investment, so as to provide a better business environment for foreign-funded enterprises that have already invested in China." Sang Baichuan said.

Shu Jueting said that the Ministry of Commerce will resolutely implement the spirit of the 20th CPC National Congress and the requirements of the Central Economic Work Conference, and constantly improve the quality and level of foreign capital utilization. "We will implement the national treatment of foreign-funded enterprises in a high standard, focus on the outstanding problems reflected by foreign-funded enterprises, and work with relevant departments to introduce policies and measures to ensure that foreign-funded enterprises participate equally in government procurement, bidding and standard formulation according to law, so as to create a first-class business environment."

China has already been deeply integrated into the global industrial chain supply chain system. The global industrial chain supply chain system is jointly built by domestic and foreign enterprises. "Stabilizing foreign capital means giving play to the technological spillover effect of foreign capital, promoting technological innovation and jointly improving the technological innovation capability of domestic and foreign enterprises," said Wang Xiaohong.

The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to accelerate the construction of a manufacturing power. At the end of October, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments issued the Several Policies and Measures on Promoting the Expansion of Foreign Capital, Stabilizing the Quantity and Improving the Quality of Foreign Capital Focusing on the Manufacturing Industry to better play the positive role of utilizing foreign capital in promoting the high-quality development of China's manufacturing industry and deeper integration into the global industrial chain supply chain. Wang Xiaohong said that to promote a high level of openness is to follow the international rules of elevation standards, to promote the opening from "border" to "post border", and to create a good environment for absorbing high-quality foreign investment, Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation reported.