China vows more open economy, national treatment for foreign firms

BEIJING – Chinese Premier Li Qiang pledged on March 22 to further open up the economy and fully implement national treatment for foreign enterprises, as the country seeks to reassure the outside world amid rising global trade tensions.

China will focus on promoting high-quality development and continue to create a favourable business environment so that companies coming to China can develop with confidence and achieve great success, Mr Li told the China Development Forum in Beijing, state media reported.

The annual two-day forum, which concludes on March 23, allows Beijing to lay out its economic vision and investment opportunities to foreign business leaders, Chinese officials, economists and academics. It comes as the world’s second-biggest economy faces rising tensions with major trading partners over a record US$1.2 trillion (S$1.54 trillion) trade surplus in 2025.

Challenges for Beijing are aplenty, including deflecting concerns from an increasing number of global capitals about China’s trade practices and overcapacity, as well as their overreliance on key Chinese products.

While Mr Li’s speech did not appear to directly mention the surplus, his pledges indicate an awareness that the issue could disrupt international relations at a time when China has reached a temporary truce with the US on trade.

US President Donald Trump last week postponed a trip originally planned for late March due to the US-Israeli war on Iran, delaying an effort to ease tensions between the world’s two biggest economies.

In a separate speech at the forum, Chinese central bank governor Pan Gongsheng also sought to alleviate concerns surrounding the trade surplus.

“Analysing global economic imbalances requires looking not only at trade in goods but also services, and not only at the current account but also the financial account,” Mr Pan said, according to a transcript of his speech published by the People’s Bank of China, adding that China is the country with the largest goods surplus but also the largest services deficit.

China has no need and no intention to gain trade competitive advantage through currency depreciation, Mr Pan said.

Foreign investment push

China is working to reverse a decline in foreign direct investment, which fell 5.7 per cent year on year to just over 92 billion yuan (S$17.13 billion) in January, following a 9.5 per cent drop over the course of 2025.

In December, China added 200 sectors to a list of those eligible for foreign investment incentives, from tax breaks to preferential land use, with a focus on advanced manufacturing, modern services and green and high-tech sectors.

Mr Li said foreign firms would be treated in the same way as domestic ones, allowing enterprises from all countries to develop with confidence and realise their ambitions in China.

In a separate meeting, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao told business leaders from a US pharmaceutical trade group and executives from five major multinational drug companies that China will strengthen intellectual property protection and improve policy transparency.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook said in a keynote speech that the company would continue to work with Chinese suppliers to further advance the industry, state media reported.

Senior executives attending include those from Samsung Electronics, Volkswagen, chipmaker Broadcom, industrial conglomerate Siemens, chemical producer BASF and pharmaceuticals firm Novartis.

Financial institutions including HSBC Holdings, UBS Group and Standard Chartered also sent representatives. REUTERS