China remains major contributor to global economic growth: forum participants

China remains a major contributor to global economic growth and a hotbed of technological innovation, according to international participants at the China Development Forum 2025 in Beijing.

Themed "Unleashing Development Momentum for Stable Growth of Global Economy", the two-day forum, which brought together 86 official delegates from multinational companies from 21 countries, concluded on Monday in Beijing.

"China to open up, this is creating a much more attractive opportunity. We continue to invest in China and believe China will continue to be major contributor to the overall global growth," said Georges Bahjat Elhedery, CEO of international financial giant HSBC.

"In China, great talent in the population, but also a great market potential. Around the topics green transformation or artificial intelligence or also the new energy vehicles. So these are trends that are playing a fundamental role in China, where you have here in China a leading role in the world. And that's a reason why we have been here since 150 years. And we will stay here for much more years even," said Miguel Angel Lopez Borrego, CEO of German engineering company thyssenkrupp AG.

Speaking on the sidelines of the forum, international participants noted that an increasing number of countries are eager to deepen cooperation with Chinese enterprises, recognizing China's significant advantages in the development of advanced technology.

"It is highly innovative. It's producing the green and digital technology of the future and the rest of the world is seeing this and wants to be part of it. It wants to be part of it both in supply chains, in other words, having production in China. It wants to be part of it in the Chinese market. It wants to be part of it as a trade partner with China," said Jeffrey Sachs, a professor at Columbia University.

"China surprised again with latest technology. We have more than 50 plants in China, now they apply widely robots and AI to improve productivity in our processes. And this is working very well. And I think we are really setting an example for the rest of the world of our production networks," said Holger Klein, Chief Executive Officer of German technology manufacturing company ZF Group.

Highlighting the enduring importance of China for American businesses, Sean Stein, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, emphasized the strong commitment of U.S. companies to deepening ties with China.

"If you look at American business, American business is still deeply committed to working with China. Now they want to be in China for supply chain. They want to be in China for R and D and technological innovation. They want to be in China because so many good ideas are happening here in China. So China is an enormously important place for American companies to be, and that's why you see so many American CEOs here," said Stein.

Heads of multinational enterprises expressed their continued confidence in China's future development, citing favorable policies and the country's vast market potential.

"The equipment renewal and for people to upgrade and change their home equipment, elevators were included in that, which we think is critical. We've seen that picking up in our business. We call it modernization, renewal, refurbishment. That part of our business is probably going to grow the quickest over the next few years," said Judy Marks, CEO of elevator manufacturer Otis Worldwide Corporation.

"But I'm sure in the coming five years, especially with the new plan of five years now coming, it will be extremely important and relevant that we are going to expedite our investment in China," said Mohammad Abunayyan, founder and chairman of the Board of Directors of Saudi Arabia-based power generator ACWA Power.

This year's forum featured 12 symposiums and several closed-door sessions, covering topics such as healthcare, consumption, AI and sustainable supply chains.

China remains major contributor to global economic growth: forum participants

South African investment analysts and mining industry insiders are betting that the country's position as a leading producer of platinum group metals (PGMs), which are widely used in hydrogen, fuel cell and emissions reduction technologies, will offset the pain inflicted by U.S. tariffs targeting other South African exports.

As part of the Trump administration's tariff policy, all South African goods entering the U.S. are now subject to a 30-percent duty, with a specific 25-percent tariff imposed on vehicles and car parts. However, key mineral exports such as PGMs, coal, gold, manganese and chrome have been explicitly excluded from these new tariffs.

Platinum, together with other critical minerals like palladium and rhodium, is used to make auto catalysts for vehicle exhausts.

Robbie Proctor, an investment analyst with Anchor Capital in South Africa, observed that the United States may be able to source other critical minerals like palladium, but America does not have an alternative market for platinum other than South Africa.

"With the amount of recycled volumes of palladium that come into the market there, they actually could be almost self-sufficient in palladium. However, there is no chance of them being self-sufficient in platinum, regardless of how much investment goes in. Does the U.S. have an alternative market for platinum? The answer is a definite no," Proctor told China Global Television Network (CGTN) in an interview.

The exclusion of PGMs from the new U.S. tariff regime was widely anticipated by South Africa's mining industry, because without the commodity, America's automotive industry would not be able to manufacture catalytic converters and other component parts.

"The U.S. is a very big automotive sector. It's only second to China in terms of size and so, it's a big sector. And PGMs are a critical part of the catalytic converter exhaust management systems which are there to clean the air. And so, palladium and rhodium and obviously platinum are very important in those particular processes," said Roger Baxter, executive chairman of Southern Palladium, a key play in South Africa's exploration and development of PGMs.

South Africa's Sibanye Stillwater is one of the world's largest producers of PGMs and has operations in the U.S. The company sees opportunity in the turmoil.

"Having that footprint in the U.S. is for us strategically important, because I think a lot of this is about securing supply for the U.S. in terms of critical metals, self-generated, self-mined, self-developed," said Richard Stewart, chief regional officer of Africa at Sibanye Stillwater.

To Craig Miller, CEO of Anglo American Platinum, it is essential that South Africa's mining industry shift to the development of clean energy technologies going forward as the world quickly transitions away from internal combustion engines.

"We produce metals and we sell them globally, both to Europe, to China, to Japan, and to the U.S., but as a company, we are really focused around the future uses of PGMs as well, so actively looking at market development, and that market development is really in the form of new energy and in hydrogen," he said.

Others in the mining industry see a bright future for platinum jewelry, as the rare metal has become the metal of choice for South African jewelry designers due to its durability and resiliency, especially in the uncertain global trade environment.

"We've seen platinum ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds) are similar to gold. But I think this is where there's an opportunity to do a lot more work on the demand side to increase the opportunities for investment and demand in platinum," said Mzila Mthenjane, CEO of Minerals Council South Africa.

S Africa expected to withstand shock from US tariffs as world's leading platinum producer