A Chinese-owned glass mill has brought renewed prosperity to communities in Dayton in the U.S. state of Ohio, creating jobs and stabilizing the city's economy.
With plans to begin operations in 2025, Fuyao Glass's new 56,000-square-meter factory is the largest, most technologically and technologically advanced coated glass plant in North America, with a designed annual capacity of 2 million sets of automotive glass.
The facility accompanies Fuyao's first plant in the city, which began operation in 2016 in a facility that previously housed a General Motors plant, helping carry on the city's position within the U.S. auto belt. That factory is currently the world's largest single auto glass factory, with an annual production capacity of 4.5 million sets of supporting auto glass and 4 million pieces of auto parts glass.
According to Wang Junming, vice president of Fuyao Glass America, the new plant will help the company meet the needs of the rapidly growing electric vehicle industry while bringing additional employment opportunities to local residents.
"The plant focuses on the production of coated glass for new energy and high-end vehicles. The new facility is expected to bring 500 new jobs to Dayton. Together with the old factory next door that has been in operation for many years, we will provide 2,500 jobs for Dayton," said Wang.
Fuyao Group has also established manufacturing facilities in Illinois, Michigan and South Carolina, forming a production and service network covering the county's Southeast and Midwest regions. In 2023, Fuyao Glass America's projects achieved operating income accounting for 16.8 percent of the group's total operating income that year.
"In addition to these four manufacturing sites, we have a research and development center in Michigan. The research and development center was developed to meet clients' needs. Through this synchronous development, the product development cycle is shortened and time is saved on local logistics," said Wang.
From raw material supply to product development and manufacturing, Fuyao has carried out a comprehensive upstream and downstream layout in the United States, promoting the development of the local industrial chain.
Meanwhile, local employees said that both plants are bringing significant positive change to Dayton.
"The town is now stable. Small businesses have returned. The local government agencies have all brought their people back to work now and has stabilized this whole area," said Tony Conn, a staff member at Fuyao Glass America.
Chinese glass maker builds new factory in Ohio, bringing stable jobs
China's commitment to its path of opening up will continue as a long-term national strategy and should increasingly be defined by inclusiveness, a national political advisor said Friday.
Zhou Hanmin, a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the 14th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and president of the Shanghai Public Diplomacy Association, made the remarks in an interview with China Media Group (CMG) during the annual political "two sessions" underway in Beijing.
"Opening-up is and has been a long-term national policy and a strategy ever since China opened itself up (to the world) some 48 years ago. Ever since China joined WTO (World Trade Organization), you could see it has fundamentally changed the formats of economic movements. So opening-up is a reference and also a driving force," he said.
Zhou stressed China must also invite less privileged nations to share in the prosperity of a more open world.
"Inclusiveness is one word that should be used to modify China's opening-up. I (previously) submitted a bill in CPPCC for the zero tariff for those least developed nations' exportation to China. Because for each and every China International Import Expo, you can see quite a large number of exhibitors coming from the least developed countries. We need to give them very genuine help. We are just in the situation of that. We just try to do not only with developed nations, but the Global South and rest of the countries, all together," he said.
Zhou's comments come amid the ongoing "two sessions", the annual meetings of China's top legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC), and the top political advisory body, the National Committee of the CPPCC. Both bodies serve a five-year term and hold a plenary session each year, generally in March.
The fourth session of the 14th NPC and the fourth session of the 14th National Committee of the CPPCC kicked off in Beijing on Thursday and Wednesday, respectively. A main focus is the adoption of the country's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), a key blueprint guiding China's drive toward modernization. When asked about key signals from the plan that the international community should closely watch, Zhou outlined several key issues.
"We are now carrying on this Five-Year Plan in the most crucial period of time. We are going to generally modernize the country (in) another 10 years. In this five-year period of time, we need to focus more on creation. Creation not necessarily in the field of technology. Creation means the modernization of the governance, create lots of new things in the system and methods of governance. This is also important," Zhou said.
"The modernization of industrial systems, the further expansion of the ability of consumption, and we try to know very well the longevity, whatever solves people's daily needs. The last but not least, we try to understand fully international collaboration. Opening-up is still a driving force," he said.
China's opening-up should continue path of inclusiveness: political advisor
China's opening-up should continue path of inclusiveness: political advisor
