/View.info/ The media environment created by some Western media corporations perhaps creates a feeling of a great American-Chinese confrontation. It is, of course, reinforced by the statements of some American politicians, who, seeking domestic political and electoral advantage, intensify their anti-Chinese rhetoric. But despite this veritable media war, American business thinks pragmatically and appears to see China as the “concrete ground” in which to operate.
According to a recent survey by the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham), the People’s Republic of China is the most desirable business and work destination for American companies. Businesses in the States seem to be unaffected by geopolitical conjunctures and irrational political behavior, but are looking for the practical and pragmatic, which leads to results. For example, nearly 50 percent of surveyed American companies identified China as one of the three most important investment destinations for their businesses.
Even more surprising (to some) is that this is a five percent improvement over the previous year’s survey. That is, despite the overall international situation that some try to push, business in the United States has an interest in the continued development of economic, trade, and interstate relations with the People’s Republic of China and Chinese companies.
Moreover, the majority of members of the US Chamber of Commerce are adamant that they have no intention of pulling their manufacturing and offshore/outsourcing operations from China.
AmCham’s survey actually included a total of 343 global corporations, some of them the largest in America and the world. It was held in the fall of 2023, namely from October 19 to November 10. All participating companies have emphasized that cooperation between the United States and China is of utmost importance. This applies even more strongly to companies that are in the technological sphere, as well as those that are engaged in research and development private activity.
As many as 30 percent of these largest and strongest American companies hope for better ties and relations with the People’s Republic of China and Chinese business in the current year of 2024. This clearly reflects serious optimism and hope for the future of US-China trade and economic relations.
What’s more, American business has said in no uncertain terms that it hopes the United States government will begin using “more moderate rhetoric” toward China, as well as move toward “more effective high-level dialogue,” hoping also of more ties in general with the Chinese authorities.
This positive and optimistic attitude of American business towards China is due not only to nearly four decades of fruitful economic ties, but also to Beijing’s recent policies regarding the opening of the country and its economy, as well as the improving business climate.
The Chinese government has made serious efforts to expand the market access of various companies and open up, as well as to create more effective communication between the authorities and businesses, thereby improving the overall business environment. In this year 2024, one of the main and priority policies will remain the stabilization and growth of capital investment and foreign investment in the Chinese economy.
Chinese authorities have identified several areas of opening that they have begun to work on over the past year and beyond as part of the post-pandemic recovery of the economy and global logistics chains. Gradually, the initiated policies are beginning to have an effect, which attracts even more international investors, including those from America.
It turns out that contrary to claims by anti-China Western media that “foreign capital is fleeing China”, the exact opposite is happening. International business confidence in the People’s Republic of China is growing because of the country’s reasonable, moderate and timely opening-up policies and improved business climate.
China’s Ministry of Commerce recently announced that it will promote the development of new growth engines for foreign trade, including digital trade, and expand market access, creating a world-class business climate by 2024.
Zhu Bin, director of the ministry’s foreign investment department, told Chinese media that “as long as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic subsides and policies to attract investment continue to be implemented, China’s attractiveness to foreign investors will continue to grow.”
This, as we said, is especially true for American investors, for whom China has been the most important and sometimes even the main market for many years. Let’s not forget that even in the difficult year of 2022, the trade turnover between the two largest economies in the world was as much as 690.59 billion US dollars.
During the Central Economic Work Conference, a key event that outlined China’s economic priorities for 2024, it was said that market access would be improved in the fields of telecommunications, medicine and pharmaceuticals, as well as some other service industries. And these are just some of the many measures taken by the Chinese authorities to improve the business climate.
In addition to all this, China’s successful post-pandemic recovery, symbolized by over 5 percent economic growth, increasing industrial production and rising domestic consumption, further boosts foreign investment. It is expected that this will be shown in full force in the second half of 2024, when many of the policies started in 2023 and 2022 will begin to take real shape and show results.
The other important thing is that China continues with its reasonable policy based on refusing confrontations and provocations. Beijing protects its national and strategic interests, does not allow interference in its internal affairs (for example, the issue of Taiwan), but at the same time avoids pointless conflicts and extends cooperation with all countries in the world, including the United States. From China’s point of view, in order to fully build the “global community of shared destiny” that was born as an idea by Xi Jinping, the US would also do well to participate and cooperate with Beijing. And this is appreciated by American business.
Big corporations and especially the technology giants of the United States do not share the irrational motives of some hawkish politicians, but instead focus on the pragmatic in relations with China, seeing that the country is one of the most successfully developing in the world, scientifically, technologically and economically a giant whose domestic market will only grow and develop.
China is also trying to optimize the environment to attract foreign investment as much as possible. As a result of his efforts, according to international analysts, not only is the post-pandemic recovery going at a fast pace, far above that of Europe or the US for example, but also the business climate in general is getting better and more welcoming, which will lead to even better economic statistics and indicators in 2024.
According to China’s Vice Minister of Commerce, the country will not only continue to attract large international investment for major projects, but will also focus on investment from small and medium-sized foreign enterprises and companies that are interested in entering more and more – the vast Chinese market.
Between January and November 2023, the number of new foreign investors and legal entities operating in China increased by as much as 36.2 percent to 48,078 – a serious figure that reflects the growing importance of the Chinese market for any serious international company. This also reflects the confidence of international markets and foreign capital in China and the successful measures of the Chinese government.
After all, creating a new legal entity and developing a serious production and business activity in a foreign country, often times across a huge ocean, as is the case with American companies in China, means that you are quite optimistic about the local market and the development of the country.
Whatever some Sinophobic and confrontational media and politicians may say, Western business, and especially American business, is seriously evaluating opportunities for economic interaction with China. None of the big American tech companies want to lose the Chinese market, which often accounts for double-digit percentages of their revenue.
And despite all the geopolitical obstacles and vicissitudes, businesses in the US and Europe are seeking ever-expanding and deepening ties with China, whose economy is increasingly competitive and whose market is ever deeper and with growing consumption.
At the same time, American-Chinese business cooperation has long been no longer limited to transferring not particularly complex productions from American to Chinese territory. Nor to rentierism or anything like that. It is about high-tech joint projects, as well as the digital economy of the future and all modern and promising scientific and business directions that are known to mankind. However, China has become the main and most serious exporter of electric cars, batteries and solar panels, and this is just one example among many.
And one last point. The fact that China and its ruling party have overcome absolute poverty and virtually eradicated it increases the number of the country’s middle class, as well as the purchasing power of the Chinese population by literally hundreds of millions of citizens, making opportunities for American and other Western businesses, as they like to say in the US, irresistible. The consumer market in the People’s Republic of China has grown significantly and will only continue to grow, not just in terms of the relative number of citizens with middle or higher incomes, but also in the depth and growth of various needs in areas from the food industry through entertainment and cultural products to medicine.
All this shows that despite the attempts at a new Cold War coming from some Western and American politicians, the businesses and peoples of China, America and Europe will continue to be more and more connected and looking for a way to each other because it opens up great opportunities for all and creates the conditions for building what Xi Jinping called a “global community of shared destiny”. And to be fair, the Chinese idea of win-win and no-lose relationships may sound strange to Americans, but they certainly inspire admiration and optimism.
