China's advances in new quality productive forces and technological innovation fuel high-quality growth at home and bring stability and momentum to the global economy, according to researchers attending the 2026 Global Leadership Forum Sunday in Beijing.
China's expanding global openness has created numerous opportunities for overseas investors, said Xu Tianqi, deputy director of the Country Studies Department at Renmin University of China's Chongyang Institute for National Studies.
"You don't need to worry about the supply chain in China. You can buy everything, right? The manufacturing, the services. As long as you ask your supplier to provide you, they will immediately send you the messages and send you the products that you want. So I think it's safe in these scenarios. Also that's very good for Chinese business environment, but it's not saying China is safe for investment to earn money. You need to compete in China to earn your money," Xu said.
He said China is likely to maintain the leadership in high-end manufacturing and secure its important position in the global supply chain.
"Firstly, we want to maintain our leadership in the high-technology manufacturing, high-end manufacturing. If you look at those 'dark light factories' in China, that's automatic, also those robotic factories in China, you can see this kind of scenario. That's the first part. We don't want all manufacturing, like labor manufacturing, we don't need all of them, but we need to maintain our leadership in the high-end manufacturing. That's very important. The second one is that we want to be the innovation center. That's also mentioned in the newest five-year-plan. So together it creates the new position for China in the global supply chain," Xu said.
Technological advancement empowers Chinese firms to evolve from supply chain participants to ecosystem creators, competing via innovation and exporting standards, said Li Jiaying, associate researcher of Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China.
"The breakthrough of technology will enable Chinese enterprises to transform from the participants in the global supply chains to the ecosystem builders. It involves a shift from the cost competition to technological innovation competition, and the increase in the product added value, changing the position on the smile curve and transition into the high-end segments like the research and development, design and high-end services. Meanwhile, it will also allow our Chinese enterprises to export rules, to formulate standards and also provide integrated solutions," said Li.
China's advance in technological innovation creates opportunities for overseas investors: researchers
