On August 18, data released by the Ministry of Commerce showed that from January to July this year, the actual use of foreign capital in the country was 798.33 billion yuan, of which the growth rate of foreign investment in high-tech industries nationwide was 1.9 times the average growth rate of foreign investment, which fully demonstrated that China's foreign investment Optimization of industry structure and improvement of foreign investment quality.


   Investing funds in high-tech industries has become the first choice for major foreign companies. Foreign investors are deeply engaged in China's new technology and new industries, showing their stable expectations for China's economic development prospects, and a vivid portrayal of China's economic resilience, vitality and potential.


  High-tech industries use foreign capital to increase by over 30%


  ——The actual use of foreign capital in high-tech manufacturing and high-tech service industries has achieved "double growth", the structure of foreign investment has been further optimized, and the quality of China's foreign investment has increased.


   Turning "Gutter Oil" into Aviation Fuel - In Maoming City, Guangdong Province, the construction of a sustainable aviation fuel production base jointly built by Honeywell and Donghua Energy Co., Ltd. is busy.


  Honeywell China President Yu Feng told reporters that this cooperation promotes carbon emission reduction in the aviation industry through the introduction of Honeywell's Ecofining process technology, and helps achieve China's "dual carbon" goal. After the project is completed, it will become one of the world's largest sustainable aviation fuel production bases using kitchen waste oil and animal fat as raw materials, with an annual output of 1 million tons. "Honeywell attaches great importance to R&D innovation, and one-quarter of the company's global positions are R&D positions." Yu Feng said, "In China, Honeywell actively introduces and develops digital technologies and sustainable development solutions to promote local Innovate, strengthen cooperation with Chinese business partners, and jointly promote the application of innovative technologies."


   Such high-tech projects have received a lot of foreign investment since the beginning of this year.


  In the field of automobile manufacturing, Merck's advanced semiconductor integrated base signed a contract to settle in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu, and the large-scale upgrading project of BMW Brilliance production base (Rida plant) with a total investment of 15 billion yuan was officially opened. At the same time, with the full liberalization of foreign equity ratio restrictions in the auto manufacturing sector, foreign auto companies such as Volkswagen, Hyundai and Scania have increased their investment in China, which has also led to auto parts manufacturers such as Eaton Cummins to expand their investment in China.


  In the field of smart home appliances, in July this year, BSH (Chuzhou) Home Appliance Park Refrigeration Plant successfully completed the production of the 30 millionth refrigerator. "Our new washer-dryer factory in Chuzhou will also be officially put into use this year." Tang Shanda, President of BSH Group Greater China, told reporters that the new factory will become the only company in the world that produces wash-dryers. It is a factory integrating the three major cleaning and care products of washing machine, washing machine and tumble dryer, which provides a stronger guarantee for the sustainable development of BSH in China.


   In the field of high-tech service industry, Schneider Electric released the "Carbon Reduction Master" plan on August 18, and cooperated with JD Logistics, Exxon Mobil, Songtsam Hotel Group and other enterprises to jointly create a wider carbon reduction ecosystem. According to Xiong Yi, Senior Vice President of Schneider Electric, corporate users who join the program can have the opportunity to communicate with experts and scholars in depth through this platform, and use the "dual carbon" strategic planning, consulting services and leading digital solutions provided by Schneider Electric. , to promote its own carbon reduction process. "China has become one of Schneider Electric's four global R&D bases, and the R&D results are not only used in the local market, but also benefit the world," Xiong Yi told reporters.


  High-tech industries are becoming the focus of multinational corporations in China. According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, from 2017 to 2021, the actual use of foreign capital in China's high-tech manufacturing industry increased from US$9.89 billion to US$12.06 billion. From January to July this year, the actual use of foreign capital in the high-tech industry increased by 32.1%, of which the high-tech manufacturing industry increased by 33% and the high-tech service industry increased by 31.8%.


"In the first seven months, the rapid growth of China's use of foreign capital was a very important highlight in the overall macroeconomic data, showing that foreign capital recognizes China's economic fundamentals and has confidence in China's future economic growth." Research on Regional Economic Cooperation, Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce Zhang Jianping, director of the center, told reporters that the actual use of foreign capital in high-tech manufacturing and service industries has achieved "double growth", which reflects the characteristics of China's more optimized structure of foreign investment.


  Why focus on high-tech industries?


  ——Supported by long-term sound economic fundamentals, China's market opportunities provide fertile ground for innovation and high-end manufacturing


  The concentration of foreign capital in China's high-tech industries is in line with China's pace of high-quality development.


  Zhang Jianping analyzed that the adjustment of China's economic structure is accelerating. With the gradual increase in the cost of various factors, China is striving to promote the development of high-value-added industries, mainly high-tech industries and modern service industries, and continues to move towards the mid-to-high end in many industries. "Especially in the electronic information manufacturing industry, such as communication equipment, 5G base stations, new energy vehicle development and utilization, biomedicine, aerospace, new materials and other emerging industries, China's global market share is rapidly expanding." Zhang Jianping said, "For foreign investment In terms of choosing a high-tech industry, it means investing in the future development, which can better meet the current needs of the optimization and upgrading of China's economic structure."


   China’s market opportunities provide fertile ground for innovation and high-end manufacturing.


"We see that Chinese consumers are highly receptive to innovation and are leading the trend of global consumption upgrading." Tang Shanda said, "For example, according to the high-end consumers' demand for long-term preservation and healthy sterilization of refrigerators, we launched The Bosch Global Smart M7 Refrigerator Oxygen Edition is equipped with the zero-degree vitamin preservation technology, which can perform dual-zone storage and dual temperature and humidity control, bringing the effect of 3 times the preservation time."


  Yu Feng believes that the Chinese market is developing rapidly, and the changes and upgrades of user needs are accelerating. Under this trend, foreign-funded enterprises need to adopt a more agile innovation mechanism, so as to meet the needs of users more accurately and effectively. Therefore, Honeywell is vigorously developing the mass mid-end market in China and meeting market demands through customized innovative products.


  The encouragement and support of high-tech industries by national policies have also strengthened the confidence of foreign companies to invest in "Innovative China".


"For example, for foreign direct investment in high-tech enterprises, China provides a 15% preferential income tax policy. The recently announced "Catalogue of Industries Encouraged for Foreign Investment (2022 Edition) (Draft for Comment)" also guides foreign investment to invest more in advanced manufacturing, modern Services, high-tech, green and low-carbon, digital economy and other fields and the central and western regions." Zhang Jianping said.


   Yu Feng introduced that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China's prospects in the fields of digital economy and low-carbon development have brought Honeywell a broad space for development. Honeywell's core business is in line with China's market needs and development trends. About 60% of the company's new product development is based on improving customers' environmental performance and social benefits. Driven by China's "carbon peak" and "carbon neutrality" goals, Honeywell is optimistic about the opportunities brought by energy, aviation, construction, chemical and other industries to promote energy conservation, emission reduction, and sustainable development.


  What impact will the optimization of the investment structure bring to China?


   On the one hand, foreign capital brings advanced technology and management experience to help China become an innovation and high-end manufacturing center in East Asia. "More and more foreign-funded enterprises are actively investing in advanced manufacturing, high-tech, energy conservation and environmental protection and other key areas to promote high-level circulation of science and technology, capital and the real economy." Zhang Jianping said.


   On the other hand, the active entry of foreign capital into high-tech industries will accelerate the agglomeration of various economic factors such as talents, capital, and technology in this industry, effectively promoting the upgrading of the industrial structure. Zhang Jianping said: "From the perspective of the division of labor in the global value chain, we must strive to gradually move towards the middle and high-end direction. The optimization of the investment structure obviously plays a major supporting role in the advancement of this process."


   "Our determination and confidence in long-term development in China are very firm"


  ——Encouraging foreign investment in advanced manufacturing, high-tech and other fields, the Chinese market will remain highly attractive to foreign investment


   In the future, will the Chinese market remain attractive to foreign investment?


   Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Shu Jueting said that the business environment will continue to be optimized and the investment confidence of foreign-funded enterprises will be enhanced. "All localities and relevant departments have formulated a series of policies and measures to stabilize foreign investment, and actively responded to the demands of foreign-funded enterprises to facilitate business in China, which enhanced their sense of gain." Shu Jueting said, "At the same time, the Ministry of Commerce organized and completed the The regulatory documents that are inconsistent with the Foreign Investment Law have been sorted out, and 520 regulatory documents have been abolished, revised, and formulated to further improve the legal environment for foreign investment. At present, the Ministry of Commerce is actively cooperating with the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress to carry out inspections of foreign investment law enforcement, and urges the strict implementation of foreign investment laws. Various legal systems for promotion, protection and management will protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investment.”


   In addition, strengthen service guarantees and focus on solving difficult problems faced by enterprises. Shu Jueting said that to implement the requirements of "preventing the epidemic, stabilizing the economy, and developing safely", the special class for key foreign investment projects of the foreign trade and foreign investment coordination mechanism has played an active role in establishing and improving "four mechanisms", including cooperation with foreign businessmen. The association's normalized communication mechanism, multilingual information service mechanism for epidemic prevention and control, "through train" service mechanism, and rapid response mechanism for epidemic response, etc., help foreign-funded enterprises to resume production and operation, and promote the construction of key projects.


   To be driven by reform and opening up, the introduction of investment in the manufacturing sector is expected to welcome more benefits. Yao Jun, deputy director of the Planning Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that in the next step, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will expand the high-level opening of the manufacturing industry, and actively create a market-oriented, legalized, and international business environment for fair competition. "It is necessary to support foreign investment in increasing investment in China, encourage foreign investment to invest in advanced manufacturing, high-tech and other fields, and use the "through train" and "green channel" and other ministry-province linkage service guarantee mechanisms to fully support the accelerated implementation of key foreign-funded projects."


The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China and the Mercator China Research Center in Berlin released a joint report titled "China's Innovation Ecology" in June this year, showing that 75% of the companies surveyed said they would increase their R&D investment in China, and 18% would maintain the current level. . "BSH has always been full of confidence in the development of the Chinese market, so it has always insisted on increasing investment in China and expanding its production, manufacturing and R&D investment in China." Tang Shanda said, "BSH will continue to deepen the Chinese market. Continue to play a leading and exemplary role, and actively participate in and contribute to China's sustainable development."


"China's comprehensive advantages in attracting foreign investment and market attractiveness have not only not changed, but have continued to increase." Yu Feng said, "Honeywell is fully aware of the strong resilience of China's economy and the bright prospects of China's continued expansion of opening up. China's determination and confidence in long-term development are very firm."