China integrating innovation with industrial progress resonates with global business leaders

The deepening integration of sci-tech innovation and industrial innovation emerged as a key focus for potential cooperation among global business leaders at the China Development Forum 2025 held in Beijing on Sunday and Monday.

Speaking at the forum, Li Lecheng, Party secretary of the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, highlighted China's steadfast implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy.

Currently, the number of foreign-invested enterprises established in China has surpassed 1.2 million, with foreign investments spanning 31 major categories and 548 subcategories within the country's manufacturing sector.

"Promoting the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation is not a solo performance by China, but a chorus by the world. China has a complete industrial system, rich application scenarios, a super-large-scale market and a large number of talents, which provides a broad cooperation space for international industrial scientific and technological innovation," Li said.

Notably, beyond production, establishing research and development centers in China to collaborate with domestic enterprises on tackling key technical challenges has increasingly become a growing trend among foreign investors.

British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca signed a landmark agreement on Friday to invest 2.5 billion U.S. dollars in Beijing over the next five years. Under the agreement, AstraZeneca will establish a global strategic research and development center in Beijing, its sixth worldwide and second in China after one in Shanghai. The new center, equipped with an advanced artificial intelligence and data science laboratory, will accelerate early-stage drug research and clinical development.

"The reason we want to invest in China is because of the explosion of innovation that is happening in the country. As we work with those companies, we invest, of course, but we also invest in bringing our own capabilities, our own skills. We are investing in the life science physical ecosystem in Beijing, for instance, where we are actually going to help smaller startup companies come up with new products, training people who will actually be able to create economic growth," said AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot.

The economic transformation led by innovation has also brought new opportunities for foreign-funded enterprises.

"We invest in high quality growth, we invest in innovating, and we invest in cooperating with our good Chinese partners. It's a journey that has just started right now, but it also is an area where we need to work close together," said Kim Fausing, president and CEO of Danfoss, a global market leader in heating and cooling.

China integrating innovation with industrial progress resonates with global business leaders

At least 16 people have been killed and 11 seriously injured as of 05:20 on Friday after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region on Thursday night, according to Nagqu City's earthquake relief headquarters.

Local rescue teams were immediately dispatched to the epicenter of the quake in Baqeng County in Xizang’s Nagqu City, with an advance team from the Baqen County Fire and Rescue Brigade, consisting of eight personnel and two vehicles, successfully rescuing one trapped survivor after arriving at the scene in the early hours of Friday.

The Xizang Fire and Rescue Corps immediately mobilized 347 rescue personnel, 82 fire vehicles, and 15 search-and-rescue dogs, along with over 4,200 pieces of equipment and more than 9,400 items of logistical support supplies, to the quake zone.

Public security departments in Xizang also dispatched over 300 police officers to assist emergency rescue and relief operations. The police contingent will help evacuate residents to safe areas, assess structural damage to buildings, and ensure security in affected areas.

The epicenter of the quake, which struck at 22:33 on Thursday at a depth of 10km, was monitored at 32.40 degrees north latitude and 93.79 degrees east longitude, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC).

Xizang has activated a Level-II earthquake disaster emergency response, according to the regional emergency command center.

Maru Township, at the epicenter of the earthquake, is about 70 km from the county seat.

Lhawang Dagpo, deputy head of the township, said there had been reports of collapsed houses in Maru, and that rescue and relief operations were underway in villages across the township.

He added that the tremor was clearly felt at the township government office, where the walls of the office building sustained cracks.

Strong shaking was reported in the county seat of Baqen, where power was cut off and telecommunications services were disrupted.

Tremors were also felt in other parts of Xizang, including Qamdo and Nyingchi.

The office of the State Council earthquake relief headquarters and the Ministry of Emergency Management activated a Level-IV emergency response after the earthquake, sending a work team to the affected areas to guide emergency response and disaster relief work, according to the ministry.

A 4.3-magnitude aftershock was felt in Zadoi County in Qinghai Province, which borders Baqen County, at 23:12 on Thursday, according to CENC.

Strong tremors were felt in townships along the border between the two counties, with cracks appearing in some houses. No building collapses or casualties have been confirmed in these areas.

At least 16 killed in Xizang earthquake: local emergency command