Foreign nationals made 13 million entries to China in the first quarter this year, up three times year on year, said the National Immigration Administration in mid April.
Among the foreign visitors were both tourists and business people hoping to expand into the Chinese market.
The Chinese market has continued to release its vitality and attraction through an array of business summits and expos, as well as a new set of measures to enhance the effective utilization of foreign investment.
An action plan comprising 24 specific pro-foreign investment measures was rolled out in March by the State Council, China's cabinet, with targeted measures to expand market access, and enhance appeal to foreign investment.
The Ministry of Commerce held the first signature event of the "Invest in China Summit," a government campaign aimed at attracting foreign investment and helping foreign companies better understand China's opportunities.
Held in late March, the event was attended by more than 140 entrepreneurs, as well as representatives of foreign chambers of commerce and business associations in China from 17 countries and regions.
CEOs of multinational corporations from various sectors have also come to China in large numbers, attending the China Import and Export Fair or Canton Fair, the 2024 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition, and various professional exhibitions to display their products, purchase goods and services and negotiate business.
At the 36th International Exhibition on Plastics and Rubber Industries (Chinaplas) which concluded in Shanghai on Friday, Markus Steilemann, CEO of German materials manufacturer Covestro, said that he had paid two visits to China within a span of two weeks.
"For me it's all about collaboration which is meet our future today. But China is for us already one of the biggest markets we have globally. We have made more than four billion investments in assets and we continue also to invest into China. And that is all about being close to our customers, having the innovations being made here and therefore also driving sustainability. That's in the automotive industry, electro electronics industry, but also the healthcare industry. And what we see as a clear trend next to circularity is that those industries are converging because artificial intelligence is their combining element for all those industries," he said.
With new quality productive forces as a catalyst, China's high-tech industry is creating new growth drivers and new opportunities for international cooperation.
The country's high-tech manufacturing sector attracted 12.5 percent of the foreign direct investment inflow in the first quarter, 2.2 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
In the first three months of 2024, 12,000 new foreign-invested firms emerged in China, up 20.7 percent year on year, the ministry said.
The 2024 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index report released by Kearney, a U.S.-based business consulting firm, upgraded China's ranking from seventh to third not long ago, just after the United States and Canada, indicating multinationals' willingness to keep expanding investment in China.
Foreign visits to China go up three times in Q1
Foreign visits to China go up three times in Q1
Foreign visits to China go up three times in Q1
