Chinese Premier Li Qiang stated on Sunday (November 5th) that China will further relax market access and actively expand imports. European companies have expressed their desire to see more tangible improvements in China's business environment.
The 6th China International Import Expo (CIIE) was held in Shanghai over the weekend. Li Qiang stated at the opening ceremony that China will actively expand imports, promote the coordinated development of service trade and goods trade, support innovation in foreign trade formats, and vigorously develop digital trade.
Li Qiang stated that the cumulative import volume of China's goods and services trade in the next five years will reach 17 trillion US dollars.
Li Qiang also pointed out that China will further relax market access, implement relevant policies such as comprehensively lifting restrictions on foreign investment access in the manufacturing industry, protect the rights and interests of foreign investment in accordance with the law, and create a "market-oriented, legalized, and internationalized" business environment.
Li Qiang said that this year marks the 45th anniversary of China's reform and opening up. No matter how the world situation changes, China's pace of opening up to the outside world has never stopped, and its determination to share development opportunities with the world has never changed. "China sincerely hopes to work together with other countries on the stage of opening up and achieve mutual success.
The speech of China's second leader was made after the foreign investment index in China turned negative for the first time since records began in 1998.
According to the third quarter international balance of payments data released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on November 3rd, foreign direct investment liabilities decreased by $11.8 billion, and for the first time, foreign direct investment outflows in China exceeded inflows, indicating that foreign companies are withdrawing from China.
Shanghai CIIE was criticized for being a "political showman"
  This is the first time a physical meeting has been held after the epidemic.
The United States, Australia and other countries sent large delegations to participate in this event, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who is currently visiting China, also attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech. According to reports, exhibitors include Micron Technology, Nestle, Burberry, and L'Oreal.
But this year's CIIE has been criticized by the European Chamber of Commerce in China.
Carlo D'Andrea, Vice President of the European Chamber of Commerce in China, told reporters at a briefing before the exhibition that this is a "political show", not a real business and trade activity. The Chamber of Commerce urges China to take more practical measures to restore European companies' confidence in China.
Dai Kaile stated that "European companies are becoming greatly disappointed" due to symbolic measures replacing tangible results in restoring business confidence.
Due to the slowdown of the Chinese economy, China's imports have significantly declined this year. In September, China's exports decreased by 6.2% year-on-year, continuing to decline, marking the seventh consecutive month of decline. However, the decline in September was lower than economists' predictions, indicating that the trend may have improved.
In 2022, the intended transaction amount of CIIE was 73.52 billion US dollars per year, an increase of 3.9% compared to the previous session.
(This article references a report from Reuters)