Opinion: Maintaining Momentum in the Foreign Investment and Trade Recovery

China’s foreign investment and trade outlook continues to warm. Management consulting firm Kearney recently released its 2024 Foreign Direct Investment Confidence Index Report, showing China’s leap from seventh to third place globally. In response, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs proclaimed “Investing in China is investing in the future.” The country’s foreign trade got off to a strong start in 2024, with export and import growth rates in the first two months exceeding market expectations. These positive developments further affirm the upward trend of China’s economic recovery. However, as the Ministry of Commerce has repeatedly emphasized, the external environment for China’s foreign investment and trade remains challenging this year. China can only bolster the foundation for stabilizing foreign investment and trade through continued policy optimization, fully leveraging corporate potential, deepening systemic and institutional reforms, and expanding systemic openness.