Foreign participants hail China’s economic resilience, opening-Up at Lujiazui Forum

China's economy and its continued high-level opening-up have been a hot topic at the 2026 Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai, with foreign participants expressing strong confidence in the country's economic prospects while highlighting the opportunities China has brought to global growth.

Amid a world full of uncertainties, international participants noted at the forum that China's sustained positive economic momentum has boosted confidence among foreign enterprises investing in the Chinese market.

"There have been a number of different real risks out there, the tariffs, the trade wars, the energy shock and all of this. And through all of this, what you're seeing is that the Chinese economy is resilient, particularly in the trade balance, particularly the strength of Chinese exports. And that's really where the strength and the opportunity is being seen right now," said Christian Stracke, president of PIMCO.

"Our confidence is largely based on the strength of Chinese manufacturing economy. So whether that's in solar, automotive, batteries, these are in strong demand globally, particularly now. And I think that will power a large part of the Chinese economy and that's the part of the economy in which we have confidence," said Kevin Sneader, president of Asia Pacific Ex-Japan Goldman Sachs.

"Every time I come to China, and I've seen it, particularly this week, is the speed at which China's innovation and growth is actually taking place. I'm really excited about ongoing and building that relationship," said Chris Hayward, chairman of the City of London Corporation's Policy and Resources Committee.

Foreign guests also welcomed the new policies announced at the forum, viewing them as a clear signal of China's commitment to expanding high-level opening-up and creating more opportunities for multinational companies to deepen their presence in the Chinese market.

"Very, very excited to hear the policies in this forum. I think hearing about the progress in Shanghai and also as a financial center and particularly around supporting the technology ecosystem are extremely positive. They're areas as an investor we're very interested in. So it gives us a lot more confidence to allocate capital into China," said Ben Squires, chief investment officer at superannuation fund NGS Super.

Foreign participants hail China’s economic resilience, opening-Up at Lujiazui Forum

The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) had risen to 896, including 232 deaths, the country's public health authorities said Thursday.

Twenty-one new confirmed cases, including six deaths, were reported Wednesday in the eastern provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, the health ministry said in its daily update.

The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo ebolavirus, has affected 33 health zones across three eastern provinces --Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu.

Health authorities said 383 patients were either in isolation or hospitalized, while 78 patients had recovered, including 11 newly declared recoveries following negative control tests.

A total of 151 suspected cases, including 35 deaths, were also reported on Wednesday. Authorities said 6,367 contacts were under follow-up across the three provinces, of whom 4,525 were reached during the reporting period, representing a follow-up rate of 71.1 percent.

The report said the number of confirmed cases has continued to rise week by week, indicating ongoing community transmission. It also warned that rapid geographic spread remained possible if public health measures were not implemented swiftly.

The current outbreak, DR Congo's 17th Ebola outbreak, was officially declared on May 15.

The ongoing outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola virus originated from a new spillover event from wildlife to humans rather than long-term latent transmission among the population, a joint scientific team from DR Congo and Uganda said on Thursday.

Genetic sequencing of the virus, conducted jointly by the Uganda National Health Laboratories and DR Congo's National Institute of Biomedical Research, confirmed that the current strain differs significantly from the genotypes responsible for the 2007 outbreak in Uganda and the 2012 outbreak in DR Congo.

The findings rule out the possibility that the current epidemic was triggered by a residual virus lurking dormant in human survivors from past outbreaks.

Researchers urged authorities to deepen cross-border epidemic prevention and control between DR Congo and Uganda, saying that cross-border cooperation is essential for tracking the transmission, reinforcing border screenings, and containing the wider spread of the virus.

DR Congo's Ebola cases rise to 896: health authorities