Multinational enterprises have made full preparations for their displays at the 7th China International Import Expo (CIIE), which opened in Shanghai on Tuesday, to reach more cooperation in the promising Chinese market.
Themed "New Era, Shared Future", the 7th CIIE is scheduled for Nov 5 to 10 in Shanghai, featuring the participation of 3,500 exhibitors from 129 countries and regions for business exhibitions. Notably, 297 exhibitors from Fortune Global 500 companies and industry leaders have attended, marking a historic high.
German-headquartered global cosmetics giant Beiersdorf first attended the CIIE in 2021, when the company debuted a skin care product for whitening and spotlightening. Sales took off in the Chinese market soon afterward.
Three years on, the company has acquired even more partners thanks to the country's booming online economy, according to a senior official with the company.
"Now we find more channels like (fashion ecommerce app) Dewu, like (social media app) Little Red Book (Xiaohongshu). They also brought this CBC channel. So, we'll enhance the cooperation with them. They were coming to German Hamburg, which is our headquarter, next month. They talk with our global e-commerce. We're planning to sign another memorandum of understanding to deepen our cooperation with Dewu," said Ketin Lei, general manager of Corporate Affairs for Beiersdorf China.
Services companies have also seen tangible boosts to sales and product launches at the expo, such as the consulting firm EY, which has been participating in the CIIE since the expo launched in 2018.
"We made the global debut of our ESG intelligent management system during a CIIE in previous years. The system leverages tech approaches to help companies enhance management efficiency in green development and transformation. Right after it was demonstrated, many large financial institutions and industrial parks showed their interest. And there were already clients adopting that system," said Patricia Xia, EY China Central Managing Partner.
Having seen fruitful results in the past, both firms are joining the CIIE this year with bigger ambitions.
"This time we have our nearly entire executive board members coming to China to attend the CIIE. This already shows our commitment in China and Chinese consumer market. We are looking forward, once the new ingredients are approved, we will localize this product, which definitely means more channel, more marketplaces," Lei said.
"The CIIE has brought an excellent opportunity for import firms to contact the vast China market. China has a huge population, with a growing middle-class. And people have strong demand for high-quality imported goods and services. Import firms can show their products and services at the event, and connect with potential clients, learn about the China market and make adjustments to market strategies," said Xia.
Multinational firms regard CIIE as key business promotion channel
The ongoing probe revolving around the late U.S. financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has become a powerful symbol of systemic dysfunction in Western political and judicial systems and has significantly eroded public trust, according to analysts.
In the latest episode of the China Global Television Network (CGTN) opinion show 'The Point with Liu Xin' which aired Wednesday, experts debated the ongoing controversies surrounding the latest release of documents in the so-called Epstein files.
The newly-released files totaling some three million pages have sparked serious scrutiny across the Atlantic, prompting the resignation of several political figures over their ties to Epstein, who died under mysterious circumstances in a maximum-security facility in 2019.
Han Hua, the co-founder and secretary general of the Beijing Club for International Dialogue, a Chinese think tank, noted how Epstein, in spite of his conviction, had seemingly built up an expansive network of the rich and powerful, and said the sense of "elite impunity" and the seeming disregard for morality among many of those involved has dealt a huge blow to Western democracy, which is supposedly built upon the basis of the rule of law.
"Right after 2008, Epstein certainly has built an even stronger and much larger Western elite circle including politicians, including academia, including the political and the religious figures like the Dalai Lama. So this actually indicates the 'bankruptcy' of the Western democracy from the moral high ground, from the rule of law. It is systematic damage to the whole system and also to the judicial and legal system. And they are building a circle that can protect Epstein and the elites in this circle from getting [allegations], from getting legally punished, so that the cases [could become] even larger. And there are so many victims, there is no perspective with regard to the victims to be protected," she said.
Josef Mahoney, a professor of politics and international relations at East China Normal University, said the ongoing Epstein saga has deeply flamed public distrust, exposing uncomfortable truths about how power operates behind closed doors.
"We've also seen, as has been raised, the question about whether or not the system can be trusted. There's intense distrust now in the system. But at the same time, I think the other point to be raised about moral authority is that what you see are leaders, figures from different fields, from across the political spectrum, essentially working together in a way, so they represent and they stoke divisions in society that exploit and suppress the people. But at the same time we see them, the left wing, the right wing, the center, all sort of having these extreme parties or relationships with each other, which really begs the question of whether or not there's a true democracy to begin with," he said.
Epstein case sows deeper distrust in Western politics, judicial systems: analysts
