Wang Xiangwei

China Briefing | China is rolling out the red carpet for foreign investors, but can it calm nerves?

China’s leaders have been going all out to reassure investors that it is committed to reform and opening up. There are reasons to believe they are serious this time

The wisdom of Chinese philosopher Hu Shih from more than 100 years ago comes to mind: “More study of problems, less talk of ‘isms’”

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Wang Xiangwei

Published: 3:30am, 3 Apr 2023

Is China back in business after nearly three years of self-imposed isolation and amid rising geopolitical tensions with the West?

That’s the million-dollar question on the minds of foreign thought leaders and CEOs of multinationals, including Apple’s Tim Cook, who converged on China last week on a fact-finding mission to assess the country’s future direction after its sudden reopening in December last year and the election of a new cabinet in March.

China’s leaders clearly know what is at stake. The new premier Li Qiang reassured foreign investors that the country would remain open “no matter what happens”.

Ding Xuexiang, the new executive vice-premier, said China’s chosen path of reform and opening up was as indispensable as the human need to eat, drink, breathe, and sleep. Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said China-based foreign firms were not guests, but family.

While China has rolled out the red carpet for foreign executives, scepticism remains. Indeed, the fact that Chinese officials went out of their way to reiterate the country’s more than 40-year-old open-door policy says a lot about how investor sentiment has changed.

Are China’s leaders for real? That’s the question I was asked by several foreign executives. After all, over the past decade, China has publicly pledged it would “unswervingly” stick to the path of reform and opening up, but in reality it has gone backwards and turned inward.