Global business and academic leaders at the China Development Forum 2025 held in Beijing on Sunday expressed their optimism about China's role in providing much-needed economic certainty amid an increasingly uncertain global landscape.
Ian Goldin, a professor of Globalization and Development at the University of Oxford, emphasized the importance of China's economic strength in the current global context.
"I think very positively about the Chinese market. It is a source and engine for the world, of global growth, global growth elsewhere slowing, so China's strength is very important for the global economy," he said.
John Quelch, executive vice chancellor of Duke Kunshan University noted the consistent and clear messaging from China.
"I think the mood is cautiously optimistic. China is staying very firmly on specific messaging and providing a measure of clarity and consistency in the global economy at the moment that is not necessarily coming from other capital cities," he said.
Corporate leaders also shared their perspectives on China's role in ensuring stability, highlighting their willingness to invest in the country as a result.
"The certainty is quite important that we will give people, give the world the confidence to grow. We already announced that we will expand our investment in Shenyang and Shanghai, so we already started," said Wu Junyi, Vice President of Corporate Strategy Development and Supply Chain Logistics at Michelin China.
Martin Sorrell, founder and executive chairman of the digital advertising and marketing services provider S4 Capital, pointed to China's strong domestic economy as a key driver of global growth.
"The domestic economy, I think, is improving, outbound global expansion of Chinese manufacturers in various areas. The biggest examples, probably EVs, and solar panels and like that, the opportunities are huge," he said.
While there are concerns about global economic challenges, particularly rising tariffs and inflation, the overall tone at the forum was one of confidence in China's ability to navigate these obstacles.
"You hear this morning from the premier about how important domestic consumption is and how powerful potentially this domestic consumption is, and that the government will use fiscal and monetary policy to stimulate the economy and that the government will exercise, from a foreign policy point of view, try and unify rather than fragment, so all interesting messages, and I think also all send positive signals to everybody here," Sorrell said.
"Tariffs are inflationary, and they are potentially recessionary as well, so they do pose challenges in the short term. The biggest problem for our clients is they create greater uncertainty and risk and people don't like uncertainty. Ask the CEOs here, what would they prefer? Certainty or uncertainty? They always say certainty," he said.
Development forum attendees highlight China's role in providing certainty for global economy
