Recently, the "Invest in China" Shaanxi special event jointly organized by the Ministry of Commerce and the Shaanxi Provincial People's Government was held in Xi'an. The event attracted 112 key foreign-funded enterprises and 27 Fortune 500 or industry-leading multinational enterprises to participate. In the interview, the reporter found that foreign-funded enterprises continue to be optimistic about the Chinese market, especially the new opportunities brought about by the expansion and opening up of the mainland's service industry.
Foreign investors are optimistic about the potential of China's pension service market
The person in charge of this French-funded pension and rehabilitation enterprise said that the Chinese population base is large, the supply side is constantly improving the quality and upgrading, and the elderly care service market has great potential. He also noted that in order to fully liberalize the elderly care service market, the Chinese government has issued the "Catalogue of Encouraged Foreign Investment Industries (2022 Edition)", which includes "elderly care services", "home adaptation for the elderly" and "R&D and manufacturing of smart and healthy elderly care products".
Ke Yeming, CEO of France Oubaoting Group in China: I have seen the high-quality development of elderly care services and am very confident in the future of this industry. Ou Baoting has already opened two high-end senior care centers in Nanjing and Shanghai, and will expand its business in more parts of China in the future.
The modern service industry that empowers production and manufacturing is also the direction that many foreign-funded enterprises are optimistic about. The industrial gases and related services produced by this foreign-owned company are widely used in hospitals, factories and engineering construction. Corporate investment in China's future, including in the central and western regions, continues to be bullish.
Chen Qihua, Vice President of Linde Greater China: In China, we are still optimistic about new energy and chemical industry, high-end manufacturing, electronic information technology, and new materials, which we are very concerned about. We have invested more than $6 billion in China, and more in the coastal areas. Relatively speaking, the central region and the western region are one of the priorities of our next development.
When the opening up of medical care is underway, what do foreign investors look at?
In addition to pension services, the Ministry of Commerce and other three departments recently announced a notice to expand the opening up of the pilot project in the medical field, and promote the pilot in biomedicine and wholly foreign-owned hospitals. What opportunities will the new medical opening policy bring to foreign investors? How will consumers benefit? The reporter visited several medical institutions with foreign investment backgrounds.
United Family Hospital is one of the first Sino-foreign joint venture international hospitals in mainland China, and currently has 10 hospitals in China. In the past four years alone, UFH has opened three new hospitals in China.
Bijing Li, Founder of United Family Healthcare: We have plans to continue to invest, and the new healthcare opening policy will allow us to make investment decisions more flexibly and quickly.
She said that the recently announced medical opening pilot also includes Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zones and Hainan Free Trade Port, allowing foreign-invested enterprises to engage in the development and application of human stem cells, gene diagnosis and treatment technology, which can allow some patients with rare diseases and incurable diseases to enjoy international advanced new drugs and new therapies in China.
Bijing Li, Founder of United Family Healthcare: Sometimes we have to send local patients to other countries for treatment in order to use advanced international treatments, but with the new policy, I believe that patients will be able to use new treatments in China.
For the general public, whether wholly foreign-owned hospitals can use medical insurance has become a common concern.
In the interview, the reporter learned that a wholly foreign-owned hospital does not mean an "expensive hospital". The relevant person in charge of Shanghai Jiahui Hospital said that as an international hospital, they are not only a designated hospital of Shanghai "Shanghai Huibao", but also support more than 60 kinds of commercial insurance. In the future, in terms of cancer diagnosis and treatment and complex surgery, wholly foreign-owned hospitals will be able to introduce more international advanced drugs, therapies and talents, which will not only bring choices to domestic patients, but also promote the overall improvement of domestic medical standards.
Xiang Naiqiang, Chairman of the Executive Committee of Jiahui Healthcare Management: In terms of cutting-edge drugs, devices, technologies, etc., we look forward to introducing more supportive policies in the future, allowing hospitals with corresponding qualifications to open up pilot projects, introducing more new ideas and new therapies into China, and truly achieving seamless integration with the world.
The heat is high
"Tourism to China" has become a new business opportunity for foreign investment
Since the beginning of this year, a number of new measures to open up have continuously improved the convenience of foreigners coming to China, and "China Travel", also known as "China Travel", has become a hot word on overseas social media. In the interview, the reporter found that while the popularity of "China tourism" is rising, "tourism to China" has also become a promising investment direction for foreign-funded enterprises.
Not long ago, the first coastal cruise tourism project for inbound tourists from Europe and the United States launched its maiden voyage at the terminal of the North Bund International Passenger Terminal in Shanghai. Carrying more than 650 foreign tourists, the cruise ship travels between Shanghai and Shenzhen within 10 days, passing through Zhoushan, Wenzhou Dongtou, Fuzhou Pingtan and Xiamen ports, allowing international passengers to experience the scenery and cultural charm of China.
The person in charge of this foreign-funded cruise company told reporters that "China Tour" is very popular this year, and the company will provide eight voyages for foreign tourists from September to November to meet the increasing demand of overseas tourists.
Tolstoy · Hagen, Chairman and CEO of Viking Cruises: The first inbound cruise program on the Chinese coast further expands our presence in China, which has a wide range of passengers and high bookings. We believe that now is the perfect time to invest in China's tourism market.
According to the latest data, in the first seven months of this year, more than 17 million foreigners entered the country. According to the average consumption level of foreign tourists in China, the consumption scale exceeds 100 billion yuan.
The "inbound tourism" market has great potential and has become a new business opportunity for foreign investment. This month, a delegation of 17 representatives of travel agents United States Los Angeles visited China to inspect travel itineraries and prepare for further expansion of the tourism market in China.
At the same time, the pace of opening up of the cultural tourism industry is also accelerating. In July this year, six pilot cities for the expansion and opening up of the service industry including Guangzhou and Shenyang allowed foreign-invested travel agencies that meet the relevant conditions to engage in outbound tourism business outside Taiwan.
Eleven provinces and municipalities have been included
The service industry will expand the comprehensive pilot project of opening up
The pace of expanding the opening up of the mainland's service industry is accelerating. In August this year, the State Council issued the "Opinions on Promoting the High-quality Development of Service Consumption", which pointed out that it is necessary to expand the opening up of the service industry, relax market access for the service industry, continue to deepen the opening up of telecommunications, education, pension, medical care, health and other fields, and promote the full implementation of opening measures in the fields of science and technology services and tourism. The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Commerce said that in order to promote the comprehensive pilot demonstration of the expansion and opening up of the service industry, a new batch of pilot measures will be launched to increase open innovation in the fields of value-added telecommunications, medical and health, cultural tourism and transportation.
Li Jun, Director of the Institute of International Trade in Services of the Ministry of Commerce Research Institute: The service industry is an important area of international economic and trade cooperation, and it is also a key area for the mainland to promote a new round of high-level opening up. Eleven provinces and municipalities in the mainland have been included in the national comprehensive pilot project for the expansion and opening up of the service industry, and the continuous expansion of the pilot project and the continuous opening up of the service industry will not only help attract more foreign capital inflows, but also accelerate the internationalization process of the mainland's service industry and bring new momentum to economic growth.
Source: CCTV news client
Process edit: u070