European business leaders attending the 7th Qingdao Multinationals Summit in east China's Shandong Province have shown strong interest and confidence in the Chinese market, viewing the country's continued opening-up as an anchor of stability for global trade and a wellspring of opportunities.
Running from Monday to Wednesday, the summit attracted a record 357 multinational corporations from 44 countries and regions on its opening day, including 105 Fortune Global 500 companies and 252 industry leaders.
Themed "Multinationals and China: Advancing with the 15th Five-Year Plan for Innovation and Future", the summit serves as a platform for dialogue, investment, and cooperation, offering participants not only insights into China's economic direction, but also an opportunity to identify emerging industries, strengthen existing partnerships, and explore new areas for growth.
European executives, in particular, have proactively engaged in meetings and communications with other participants, signaling a collective push to align their regional strategies with China's latest development priorities.
"The Chinese market, as said by Premier Li Qiang several times, is a fitness club for every company. And that includes multinationals, that includes European companies. And I think this is all about changing the processes, changing the decision making. It's good for China. But by the way, I think a number of companies now are using the Chinese way of running a business elsewhere in the world, which gives a lot of benefits," said Denis Depoux, global managing director of Roland Berger, a globally leading strategy consultancy.
In discussions surrounding the 15th Five-Year Plan, China's road map for development from 2026-2030, some European attendees hailed China's strong commitment to sustainable development and openness to joint ventures.
"There's a lot of opportunities in the China market and also to collaborate with Chinese companies, and with Chinese technology to expand into global markets. And I think the 15th Five-Year Plan has been very, very strong on sustainability and the green transition, and is pushing that agenda forward. And that's another thing I always say to European companies: did you read the 15th Five-Year Plan?" said Simon Lichtenberg, All China Founding Chairman of the Danish Chamber of Commerce in China.
Beyond market opportunities, investor confidence is also shaped by the policy environment. Analysts say China's commitment to high-standard opening-up is helping provide stability and predictability for global businesses, offering a degree of certainty at a time when trade and investment conditions are becoming increasingly uncertain worldwide.
"The 15th Five-Year Plan also signals that we are going to further uphold the principle of opening-up. And I think global companies around the world will benefit greatly from these measures, especially, I think, the European companies," said Demin Duan, deputy dean of the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences at Peking University.
China and the EU remain each other's second-largest trading partners for goods, with bilateral trade exceeding 800 billion U.S. dollars last year.
European businesses double down on China as openness creates new opportunities
