China ups the ante in hunt for foreign investment, hi-tech firms, but will Beijing follow through with actions?

President Xi Jinping visited BASF Shanshan Battery Materials – a Chinese-German joint venture lithium battery material firm – in Hunan province on Monday

State Council on Tuesday also unveiled measures aimed at foreign investors and expats, including increasing the lengths of visas for overseas managers and experts

3-MIN READ3-MIN

President Xi Jinping visits a battery materials joint venture in Changsha, central China’s Hunan province. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 9:30pm, 20 Mar 2024Updated: 1:07am, 21 Mar 2024

As the world’s second-largest economy is facing an important juncture of battling against US-led supply chain decoupling and other derisking measures, Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a clear signal of courting foreign investment and hi-tech firms this week.

During his first field inspection since the conclusion of the ‘two sessions” parliamentary meetings earlier this month, Xi visited BASF Shanshan Battery Materials – a Chinese-German joint venture producing lithium battery materials – in the central province of Hunan on Monday.

And while promising to further open up China’s market to foreign investors, Xi also promoted the so-called new quality productive forces that are intended to introduce a technological and innovation-fuelled economic transformation and provide development opportunities for foreign firms, according to the state-backed Xinhua News Agency.

A second visit to a foreign firm in less than 12 months – after Xi toured a Guangzhou-based display company in April that had received investment from South Korean conglomerate LG – was touted by Xinhua as a “further and clearer declaration of expanding high-level opening up to the world”.

Xi’s visit was followed by a circular from the State Council on Tuesday, which provided new measures aimed at foreign investors and expats living in China.