The epidemic situation does not change the fundamentals of China's economy: taking more measures to stabilize the basic market of foreign trade and foreign investment

The Ministry of Commerce has continuously issued a number of policy documents, continuously guiding various localities to coordinate and solve the practical problems encountered by foreign-funded enterprises in investment, production and operation, and issued 20 specific policies and measures to support foreign trade, foreign capital, trade circulation and e-commerce enterprises to return to work and production in an orderly manner, so as to minimize the impact of the epidemic. Recently, the General Administration of Customs has successively launched a series of measures to stabilize foreign trade, including supporting the China-Europe train to develop the "Customs Ten articles" and supporting the high-quality development of the "six Customs articles" in the comprehensive bonded areas. it also requires the customs across the country to further improve the efficiency of customs clearance and reduce the costs of foreign trade enterprises.

According to the "Special report: the impact of the novel coronavirus epidemic" by the American Chamber of Commerce in South China, more than 93 per cent of the 399 member companies surveyed believed that Chinese government agencies could provide effective assistance to enterprises. 

"under the influence of the COVID-19 epidemic, China's foreign trade enterprises are facing phased difficulties, but the long-term development trend of China's foreign trade has not changed, and the comprehensive competitive advantage in absorbing foreign investment has not changed." Assistant Minister of Commerce Ren Hongbin said that the Ministry of Commerce will make efforts to stabilize the basic market of China's foreign trade and foreign investment from 12 aspects, such as orderly resumption of work and production, precise assistance, deepening opening up to the outside world, and expanding access for foreign investment. 

China's position in the global supply chain is irreplaceable. 

Honeywell is a multinational company with a history of 100 years. At present, the company has fully resumed work in 21 factories in China. "We take orders not only from Chinese customers, but also from other parts of the world." Zhang Yufeng, president of Honeywell China, said: "We believe in the power made in China and firmly believe in the resilience of the Chinese economy." 

"for a long time, China has actively integrated into all aspects of the global supply chain and industrial chain, and has made positive contributions to promoting world economic development and economic globalization." Zong Changqing, director of the Foreign Investment Department of the Ministry of Commerce, pointed out that in the long run and on the whole, the impact of the epidemic on the supply chain and industrial chain is phased and short-term, and China's important position in the global supply chain and industrial chain will not be changed because of the impact of the epidemic. 

The industrial chain is interlinked, one link is blocked, and the upstream and downstream enterprises are unable to operate. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to this and propose to strengthen communication and coordination with economic and trade partners, give priority to ensuring the resumption of production and supply of leading enterprises and key links that have a prominent influence in the global supply chain, and maintain the stability of the global supply chain. a series of effective measures were introduced quickly. 

"the outstanding problems encountered by foreign-funded enterprises in the process of resuming work and production will be solved step by step soon. At present, there is no large-scale transfer of supply chain and industrial chain abroad due to the impact of the epidemic. " Zong Changqing pointed out that generally speaking, the investment and management decisions of multinational investors are long-term, comprehensive and strategic, and the impact of the short-term epidemic is limited. A number of investigations and studies show that China's comprehensive competitive advantage in absorbing foreign investment has not changed. 

Zong Changqing said that the Ministry of Commerce will further strengthen its services and support to foreign-funded enterprises. First, strengthen classified guidance and precise assistance, give priority to ensuring the resumption of work and production of leading foreign-funded enterprises and supporting enterprises that have an important influence in the global supply chain, and coordinate and promote the simultaneous resumption of work of foreign-funded enterprises and upstream and downstream enterprises in automotive, electronics and other fields; the second is to ensure that the assistance policies issued by governments at all levels to support enterprises to deal with the impact of the epidemic are equally applicable to domestic and foreign enterprises. The third is to promote the central and western regions to strengthen the transfer of foreign-funded industries, and guide enterprises to make full use of preferential policies such as enterprise income tax and import tariffs for foreign-funded enterprises encouraged by the central and western regions to attract foreign-funded enterprises with high costs along the eastern coast to the central and western regions. Fourth, do a good job in attracting investment, safe and stable business, and continuously optimize the business environment. Fifth, to study and launch new policies and measures to open wider to the outside world, so as to enhance the confidence of foreign businessmen in long-term investment and operation. 

The confidence and strategy of foreign enterprises to invest in China have not changed. 

Change "face-to-face" exchanges to "screen-to-screen". China has innovated ways to attract investment in many places. Through the implementation of "cloud investment", it communicates online with merchants in the form of video, does not meet, and signs contracts on screen-to-screen. Under the premise of persisting in epidemic prevention and control, China's momentum of attracting foreign investment has not diminished. 

On February 25th, 21 key foreign-funded projects were signed and settled in the Pudong New area of Shanghai, involving supply chain management, medical devices, intelligent manufacturing and other fields, with a total investment of more than 1.7 billion US dollars.Foreigners said that although the epidemic will have a certain impact on the economy in the short term, they are optimistic about China's economy and market in the long run, and their investment and development strategies in China will not change.

On the same day, key foreign investment projects in Shandong Province concentrated on "cloud signing". At the Jinan branch venue, Jinan City and France Electric Power China centralized cooling cooperation project, France Suez Environmental Group solid waste comprehensive disposal project, Hong Kong Hengkuan International High-tech Industrial Park project and other 10 projects signed video contracts, with a total investment of nearly 4 billion US dollars. 

In Zhejiang, relevant departments have intensively carried out the "three services" of foreign-funded enterprises. although foreign-funded enterprises have encountered some problems and difficulties affected by the epidemic, they are still full of confidence in seeking development in Zhejiang, and they continue to negotiate and sign contracts online. 

Of the 399 member companies surveyed by the American Chamber of Commerce in South China, 75% of the respondents said: "No matter what the impact of the epidemic, they will not change their investment plans in Guangdong." 

Zhang Yansheng, chief researcher of the China Center for International Economic Exchange, pointed out that foreign investment in China is increasingly focused on high-end services rather than manufacturing, and China's attraction to foreign companies is increasingly coming from a huge market rather than factor costs. These two major changes determine that although the situation of attracting foreign investment in China is difficult in the short term, it can still be expected to remain stable throughout the year. 

"however, in the long run and on the whole, the impact of the epidemic will be phased after all, and the confidence and strategy of most multinational corporations in investing in China have not changed, and we have the confidence and determination to do a good job in stabilizing foreign investment throughout the year."Zong Changqing stressed.