Editorial丨High-tech boom helps attract foreign investment

Years of efforts aimed at promoting the country's opening-up and continuously expanding market access for foreign enterprises have gradually paid off. Foreign-funded enterprises now contribute one-third of China's foreign trade, one-fourth of its value-added industrial output, and one-seventh of its tax revenues, and have created more than 30 million jobs over the past five years. It is little wonder therefore that the government should highly value foreign direct investment and always try its best to improve the business environment for foreign capital, so as to make the country a safe and promising destination for foreign investors.多年来，为促进国家对外开放和不断扩大外资企业市场准入所做的努力逐渐取得成效。外资企业目前占中国对外贸易的三分之一，工业增加值的四分之一，税收的七分之一，在过去五年中创造了3000多万个就业机会。因此，毫不奇怪，政府应该高度重视外国直接投资，并始终尽最大努力改善外国资本的商业环境，使该国成为外国投资者的安全和有前景的目的地。The country's 14th Five-Year Plan from 2021 to 2025 set the target of attracting a total of $700 billion in foreign investment, with remarkable progress to be made in both the quantity and quality of utilized foreign investment. Despite the challenges posed by the rise of protectionism and unilateralism in recent years, the utilized foreign investment in China reached $708.73 billion by the end of June, suggesting the country has already achieved its five-year foreign investment target, ahead of schedule.2021年至2025年，中国第十四个五年计划设定了吸引7000亿美元外资的目标，利用外资的数量和质量都将取得显著进展。尽管近年来保护主义和单边主义抬头带来了挑战，但截至6月底，中国利用外资已达7087.3亿美元，表明中国已提前实现其五年外资目标。Statistics from the Ministry of Commerce released on the weekend also indicate that in the first half of this year the number of newly established foreign-invested companies increased by 11.7 percent year-on-year to 30,014, as the country continues to attract foreign capital into high-tech industries such as artificial intelligence, e-commerce, pharmaceuticals and high-end manufacturing.商务部周末发布的统计数据还显示，今年上半年，随着国家继续吸引外资进入人工智能、电子商务、制药和高端制造业等高科技产业，新成立的外商投资企业数量同比增长11.7%，达到30014家。The country's high-tech sector has become a major magnet for foreign capital thanks to its immense potential, with the percentage of utilized foreign investment in China's high-tech sector rising from 28.3 percent of the total in 2019 to 37.4 percent in 2023. In the first half of this year, foreign investment in e-commerce services alone recorded a nearly 130 percent year-on-year surge.由于其巨大的潜力，中国的高科技行业已成为吸引外资的主要力量，中国高科技行业利用外资的比例从2019年的28.3%上升到2023年的37.4%。今年上半年，仅电子商务服务领域的外国投资就同比激增近130%。The development of a highly advanced innovation ecosystem in China has prompted a lot of multinationals to expand their investment in the sector in light of the country's forward-looking strategy. Take BMW for example. The German auto giant plans to establish its first China-based information technology research and development center in Nanjing, which will represent a huge expansion of the company's digital capabilities. The center is set to be BMW's largest IT R&D hub in Asia, and it is designed to strengthen the automaker's global production, sales and after-sales systems through digital solutions rooted in China's rapidly evolving tech landscape. Explaining the decision, Franz Decker, president and CEO of BMW Brilliance Automotive, said during the signing ceremony with the local government on Friday that China "demonstrates remarkable vitality in building a thriving ecosystem for digital innovation".中国高度发达的创新生态系统的发展促使许多跨国公司根据国家的前瞻性战略扩大了对该行业的投资。以宝马为例。这家德国汽车巨头计划在南京建立其第一个中国信息技术研发中心，这将代表该公司数字能力的巨大扩张。该中心将成为宝马在亚洲最大的IT研发中心，旨在通过植根于中国快速发展的技术格局的数字解决方案，加强宝马的全球生产、销售和售后系统。华晨宝马汽车公司总裁兼首席执行官Franz Decker在周五与当地政府的签字仪式上解释了这一决定，他表示，中国“在建立繁荣的数字创新生态系统方面表现出了非凡的活力”。The third China International Supply Chain Expo, which concluded on Sunday in Beijing, has earned a reputation for being a showcase for technological innovation and China's new quality productive forces. The expo highlighted how the country has embraced an innovation-driven development strategy in pursuit of high-quality development, which is expected to bring immense business opportunities for foreign companies. "Here in China ... the technology adoption is so fast," said Jensen Huang, Nvidia CEO, during an interview on the sidelines of the expo, citing how China's innovative applications are setting global trends. "The supply chain of China is a miracle. It is the largest and most complex in the world ... built on deep technology, AI and software."第三届中国国际供应链博览会于周日在北京闭幕，以展示技术创新和中国新型优质生产力而闻名。世博会强调了中国如何采取创新驱动的发展战略，追求高质量的发展，这有望为外国公司带来巨大的商机。英伟达首席执行官黄仁勋在世博会间隙接受采访时表示：“在中国……技术采用如此之快。”他引用了中国创新应用如何引领全球趋势。“中国的供应链是一个奇迹。它是世界上最大、最复杂的……建立在深厚的技术、人工智能和软件之上。”There have been some pointing to the actual use of FDI in China dropping 15.2 percent in the January-June period from a year earlier. Yet it should be noted that was amid a global decline in foreign investment, and the total volume of utilized FDI in China is 423.23 billion yuan, which remains significant. The decline can be attributed to the high comparison base last year. Any attempt to hype that foreign investment is leaving the country is out of ill intent.有人指出，1月至6月期间，中国实际使用的外国直接投资比去年同期下降了15.2%。然而，应该指出的是，在全球外国投资下降的情况下，中国利用的外国直接投资总额为4232.3亿元，仍然很可观。这一下降可归因于去年的高比较基数。任何炒作外国投资正在离开该国的企图都是出于恶意。In the past five years, the rate of return on FDI in China, at nearly 9 percent, still ranks among the highest around the world. It is the consensus among foreign investors that China remains an attractive destination for investment, not only because of its huge growth prospects, but also due to consistent government support aimed at enabling foreign-funded enterprises to achieve even greater success, as exemplified in an action plan that China released early this year to stabilize foreign investment.在过去的五年里，中国的外国直接投资回报率接近9%，仍然是世界上最高的。外国投资者普遍认为，中国仍然是一个有吸引力的投资目的地，这不仅是因为其巨大的增长前景，还因为政府一贯支持外资企业取得更大的成功，正如中国今年年初发布的一项稳定外国投资的行动计划所证明的那样。No matter how the external environment may evolve, China remains firmly committed to high-standard opening-up and always welcomes foreign companies to keep investing in China and explore the Chinese market to enjoy the country's development dividends and progress together.无论外部环境如何变化，中国都坚定地致力于高标准的对外开放，始终欢迎外国公司继续在中国投资，开拓中国市场，共同享受国家的发展红利和进步。multinationaln.跨国公司/ˌmʌltɪˈnæʃənəl/remarkable vitalityn.非凡的生命力/rɪˈmɑːkəbl vaɪˈtælɪti/