Foreign businesses have been trying to reconcile Chinese leaders’ public overtures towards overseas investment with the rolling out of a broader anti-espionage law, raids on consultancies and due diligence firms, and exit bans.
Foreign investment flows into China shrank nearly 20 per cent in the first two months of the year, data released on Friday (Mar 22) showed, and officials have been stepping up efforts to attract investors at a time when many companies have been looking to “de-risk” supply chains and operations away from China.
The Invest China Summit followed the China Development Forum from Mar 24 to Mar 25. It coincides with the first day of the Bo’ao Forum in Hainan, which is sometimes touted as Asia’s answer to the World Economic Forum meetings in Davos, resulting in a busy week of commercial diplomacy for foreign CEOs.
The chief executives of petrochemicals giant Aramco, pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and AstraZeneca, biotechnology company Novonesis, and elevator and escalator manufacturer Otis, voiced support for the China market at the same event.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said that “by the end of 2025, (Pfizer) plans to submit 17 new drug or indication applications in China,” while AstraZeneca’s CEO Pascal Soriot said his firm “expects about 100 medications and indications in China in the next five years”.
Source: CNA
