Have you heard about the "wave of visits to China" by foreign business leaders?

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon, Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon...

If you take a closer look, the list of foreign business titans visiting China this year is indeed quite long.

From early spring to midsummer, wave after wave of business titans have lined up for “China tours.” What signals have they picked up?

It boils down to one thing: expanding into the Chinese market and seeking opportunities for cooperation.

How do they view China? What significant changes are taking place in foreign investment in China?

Conversely, China now holds “two cards” to attract foreign investment: the card of trust and the card of confidence.

Behind China’s status as a hotspot for foreign investment lies an open, inclusive, and mutually beneficial market.

This also signals a clear stance: friendship between nations lies in the closeness of their people, and the closeness of their people lies in the connection of their hearts.

Foreign Investment “Coming to China”

Following Musk, “Internet Godfather” Bill Gates has also begun his visit to China.

His return to China after a four-year hiatus has, as expected, drawn keen global attention.

This time, the focus is on philanthropy. However, a significant portion of his activities involves technology research and development.

One cannot help but wonder whether this visit is part of a strategic plan to explore potential collaborations with China’s leading tech companies and specialized, innovative firms in niche sectors, and whether future business ventures might enter the Chinese market.

This trend has been particularly evident this year.

In March, Apple CEO Tim Cook made his fifth visit to China, joining CEOs from well-known multinational corporations such as Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, and Blackstone in meetings with Chinese officials, and publicly stating that Apple and China share a “symbiotic” relationship.

Apple relies on China, which serves as both a manufacturing hub and a rapidly growing consumer market.

Subsequently, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Starbucks CEO Deane Nasse also visited China in quick succession.

They unanimously expressed confidence in China’s economic growth and a willingness to continue deepening cooperation.

In the process of technological and industrial globalization, the absence of any single key link could trigger a butterfly effect, impacting the development of the industry ecosystem and even causing greater ripples.

Crucially, the moves of key figures in the financial, technology, and consumer sectors generally serve as "barometers" for investment trends.

For foreign investment giants, the Chinese market remains an indispensable key sector, influencing the layout and development of the industry’s upstream and downstream sectors to a certain extent.

Foreign Investors “Watching China”

In the first half of this year, more than 40 executives from foreign companies have visited China. They have witnessed the significant changes taking place in China, and their cooperation with China is evolving accordingly.

For companies, deciding where to invest and establish operations inevitably requires careful calculation and repeated assessment of the “return on investment.”

This is especially true for cross-border investment, which involves long cycles, difficult returns, and high risks, requiring even more careful consideration. Nevertheless, many foreign investors still choose to “embrace China.”

This is a vote of confidence in China through concrete actions, demonstrating their optimism about the Chinese market.

First, China possesses formidable production capacity.

As the world’s only country with a “complete industrial system,” China boasts a comprehensive industrial chain, well-developed infrastructure, abundant human resources, and exceptional integration capabilities. The resulting high production efficiency is virtually unmatched by other nations.

Second, China’s economy is resilient and full of potential.

As a “global market,” China’s domestic circulation and dual circulation models foster vast demand and business opportunities, further unleashing the advantages of its industrial and supply chains. For global enterprises, the high cost-effectiveness of investing here is self-evident.

Third, China offers a favorable market environment and high stability.

From the ongoing advancement of reforms to streamline administration, delegate power, and improve government services—reducing administrative approvals and licensing requirements—to the enactment of the Foreign Investment Law, which strengthens the promotion and protection of foreign investment, institutional opening-up is accelerating, and restrictions on foreign investment in competitive sectors continue to be eased.

The growth in foreign investment in China sends two signals.

First, China is stepping up its efforts to attract foreign investment.

The Negative List for Foreign Investment Access has been reduced seven times, from the initial 190 items to the current 27. The number of items in the manufacturing sector has been reduced to zero, and the opening of the service sector continues to expand.

On January 1, 2023, the "Catalogue of Industries Encouraging Foreign Investment (2022 Edition)" officially took effect, with a total of 1,474 entries—a net increase of 239 entries and 167 revisions compared to the 2020 edition—further expanding the scope of industries encouraging foreign investment in sectors such as semiconductors, new materials, and new energy.

On the other hand, foreign investors need the Chinese market.

According to data released by the Ministry of Commerce, from January to May of this year, actual foreign investment in China from France, the United Kingdom, and Canada all saw significant growth of over 100%, with France’s actual investment in China surging by 429.7%.

Take Tesla, for example: China is the world’s second-largest market after the United States, and its Shanghai factory is Tesla’s largest manufacturing hub globally. In 2022, Tesla’s Shanghai factory delivered 711,000 vehicles, accounting for more than half of Tesla’s global deliveries.

Foreign Investment in China

At the Central Economic Work Conference held late last year, “attracting and utilizing foreign investment with greater intensity” was identified as one of the key tasks.

In 2023, the Government Work Report emphasized expanding market access, increasing openness in the modern service sector, and ensuring national treatment for foreign-invested enterprises.

These statements have undoubtedly injected new momentum into the long-term development of foreign enterprises in China.

It is worth noting that some new trends have emerged behind these foreign investments.

First, as China’s industrial structure undergoes transformation and upgrading, the distribution of foreign investment is also shifting.

In 2022, China’s high-tech industries attracted 444.95 billion yuan in actual foreign investment, a 28.3% increase, accounting for 36.1% of the national total—a rise of 7.1 percentage points compared to 2021.

Among these, the growth in investment in the computer and communications manufacturing and pharmaceutical manufacturing sectors exceeded 50%, reaching 67.3% and 57.9%, respectively.

Clearly, the number of foreign high-tech enterprises is growing at a faster pace.

This also indicates that while foreign investors may have previously been more attracted to China’s cost advantages, their focus has now shifted to China’s own economic development prospects and faster integration into China’s industrial and supply chains.

For example, in the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector, barriers related to technology, expertise, and talent have been overcome, allowing an increasing number of clinical trials for innovative drugs to be conducted in China.

Secondly, large, medium, and small projects are “advancing in tandem.”

While large, medium, and small projects have all seen growth in recent years, a new trend has emerged: the number of large-scale projects is doubling, spanning numerous sectors.

For instance, ExxonMobil’s ethylene project, valued at over $10 billion, and BASF’s integrated base project in Guangdong, with an investment of over $10 billion.

In addition, medium-sized investments—ranging from $500 million to $1 billion—have also increased significantly, while small investments under $100 million are showing rapid growth.

These projects are concentrated in Shandong, Jiangsu, Fujian, Zhejiang, and other regions, and this growth momentum is naturally linked to the local business environment.

In other words, foreign investment serves as a key “barometer” of China’s economic development.

The Chinese market has repeatedly sent strong signals of openness, welcoming foreign-funded enterprises to invest and establish businesses in China, and encouraging them to deepen their roots in the Chinese market and share in development opportunities.