Foreign companies attend 2nd supply chain expo in record numbers

China will continue to take concrete actions to ensure stable and unimpeded global industrial and supply chains, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said Monday while attending a symposium with representatives of enterprises and organizations participating in the upcoming second China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE).

Present at the symposium were representatives of Apple Inc., Rio Tinto, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd., and the US-China Business Council, among others.

Highlighting their full confidence in the Chinese economy and optimism about the huge potential of the Chinese market, corporate representatives said foreign firms in China are willing to expand their investment and deepen their development in the country, strengthen cooperation on global industrial and supply chains, and achieve win-win results.

Li said with the in-depth development of economic globalization, global industrial and supply chains have expanded gradually over the past few decades, promoting the rapid growth of the world economy and benefiting all parties.

While global economic growth now lacks momentum, certain protectionist acts and moves that overstretch the concept of security continue to damage global industrial and supply chains, pushing up corporate costs further, reducing economic efficiency, and hindering common development, he said.

Li called for firm efforts to safeguard stable, unimpeded global industrial and supply chains, as well as the common interests of all parties.

The premier noted that China has achieved generally steady economic growth and made further progress this year, saying that more efforts will be made to step up counter-cyclical adjustment and promote sound economic development.

China will accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system, and provide solid support for the efficient operations of global industrial and supply chains, Li said.

The 2nd CISCE, which is set to take place in Beijing from Tuesday to November 30, has attracted over 600 Chinese and foreign companies, marking a 20-percent rise in exhibitors compared to the previous event.

Chinese analysts said that China's holding of events such as the CISCE and the recently concluded China International Import Expo, one of the world's largest import-themed expos, is a clear signal that the country is committed to safeguarding global free trade and cooperation amid rising anti-globalization headwinds.

Li Yong, a senior research fellow at the China Association of International Trade, told the Global Times on Monday that sticking to the path of opening-up has become a consensus in China and it is also a policy a country must adopt in order to achieve common development under the current global economic environment.

Li Yong noted that China's efforts to further open up its market to the outside world are taking place in the face of some countries' rising unilateralism and protectionism, which have disrupted and damaged the smooth flow of global trade of goods and services and undercut the wellbeing of people around the world.

MNCs flock to show

One of the highlights of the CISCE is the record attendance by multinational corporations (MNCs), which Chinese analysts on Monday said is a fresh testament to the attractiveness of China's strong and resilient supply chain and vast market.

Top brass of foreign companies took the occasion to pledge their support and commitment to further enhance supply chain cooperation in China.

Apple CEO Tim Cook toured the CISCE site on Monday. "I am proud to be here... that Apple has an exhibit here with our partners," said Cook, who is visiting the expo for the first time.

Answering a question on Chinese supply chain partners, Cook stated his high regard for Apple's Chinese partners, as Apple "could not do what it does without them."

Apple has some 200 major suppliers, with more than 80 percent producing products in China, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

This is Cook's third business trip to China this year. In previous trips, he pledged that Apple would "continue to grow its investments in China and help the high-quality development of the supply chain" in his meeting with China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology Jin Zhuanglong in October, and said "there's no supply chain in the world that's more critical to us than China" in a March trip.

Rio Tinto chief commercial officer Bold Baatar said that China has played the role of connector and stabilizer for the global industrial and supply chain over past decades and leads global trade exchanges, investment, and cooperation, according to a statement the global mining giant sent to the Global Times on Monday.

China's speeding up of the development of new quality productive forces will continue to usher in new demand for resources needed for energy transition, bringing MNCs and their Chinese partners fresh opportunities, according to Baatar.

FedEx, one of the world's largest express transportation companies, is participating in the CISCE for a second time.

Poh-Yian Koh, president of FedEx China, told the Global Times on Monday that "by participating in the CISCE, we aim to collaborate and help strengthen the resilience of global industrial and supply chains, support the smooth operation of the global economy, and contribute to a more open and prosperous future."

Despite rising protectionist headwinds that have negatively impacted the global industrial and supply chain, foreign vendors from some 70 countries are flocking to the event.

Foreign vendors participating in this year's CISCE account for 32 percent of the total number of vendors, markedly higher than a reading of 26 percent in the previous event, according to the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), the organizer of the CISCE.

"You cannot talk about international supply chain cooperation without talking about big MNCs, as they are the main players," Huo Jianguo, a vice chairman of the China Society for World Trade Organization Studies in Beijing, told the Global Times on Monday. "Their enthusiasm in attending attests to China's attractiveness as a cornerstone of global manufacturing, its growing influence and vast consumer market."

Rebuttal to decoupling

The data shows plainly that the majority of MNCs are not heeding the US' decoupling policy, and are making business decisions based on their own needs and situation, Huo said. And that decision is to stay and expand here, which is to stay where the future lies, the expert said.

Of the foreign exhibitors, the number of US companies tops the list, with Apple, Tesla, and Qualcomm among the vendors, according to the CCPIT.

The numbers of vendors from Europe and Japan are also significantly higher than last year.

Despite the very negative external environment resulting from the US government's decoupling push with China, a large number of American companies are still committed to China, and are developing well, Huo said. "It should be said that for most MNCs, that attractiveness is still growing."

Bolstered by the country's recent incremental policies aimed at vitalizing growth momentum, a number of foreign institutions have revised their growth forecasts upward for China. For example, UBS Investment Bank has raised its China 2024 growth forecast to 4.8 percent from 4.6 percent, while Goldman Sachs has lifted China's GDP prediction this year from 4.7 percent to 4.9 percent, according to Xinhua.

Out of over 400 surveyed foreign firms, 90 percent rate China's business environment as "satisfactory" or better, CCPIT said in a press release on October 31. Nearly 50 percent of foreign firms noted China's growing market appeal, the press release noted.