Expo shines spotlight on supply chains

China's role in fostering industrial ties and opportunities for firms highlighted

China's active support for global supply chain cooperation will help both domestic and foreign businesses accelerate digital and green transformation, effectively spurring innovation and fostering collaborations among a wide range of stakeholders, said a report released in Beijing on Tuesday.

The supply chain-themed report also stated that continuous enhancements in trade and investment facilitation, along with liberalization, can ensure stable and smooth operation of global supply chains.

The study was released by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade during the ongoing first China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing. The event opened on Tuesday and will conclude on Saturday.

As Western countries have elevated the global supply chain competition from the micro business level to the macro level of national strategy, China has continuously optimized its supply chain strategy to remain competitive, said the report.

Speaking at an expo forum, Ren Hongbin, chairman of the CCPIT, said China will continue to ensure the seamless operation of industrial and supply chains. The country has excelled in its role as a manufacturing powerhouse, by safeguarding the stability of global industrial and supply chains, leveraging manufacturing advantages, developing a vast market scale and introducing a high level of openness.

Long Guoqiang, vice-president of the Development Research Center of the State Council, agreed, saying the need to enhance the operations of global supply chains has become a central focus of strategic initiatives pursued by businesses and governments across the world.

Despite the widespread emphasis on supply chain resilience resonating across industries and many economies, a noticeable gap has emerged — a considerable absence of coordinated efforts to ensure that the restructuring endeavors lead to a genuinely robust, resilient and efficient global supply chain network, he said.

Echoing that sentiment, Sun Xiao, secretary-general of the Beijing-based China Chamber of International Commerce, said the hosting of the CISCE underscores China's dedication to stabilizing and strengthening the global supply chain, and countering Western countries' calls for "de-risking", a euphemism for "decoupling" from China.

Sun said the extensive participation of global companies such as GE HealthCare, A.P. Moller-Maersk and Exxon-Mobil in the expo signals their enthusiasm to deepen connections with China, explore business opportunities in China's opening-up and reject the so-called "decoupling" moves.

Many foreign companies appear to share that stance as the latest data from the Ministry of Commerce showed the number of foreign-invested enterprises newly established in China between January and October reached 41,947, up 32 percent year-on-year.

Liu Hongsheng, president of Syngenta Group China, a seeds and pesticides manufacturer, said that China's large consumer base offers considerable market opportunities for agricultural products, positioning the country as a key market in the global agricultural supply chain.

"Leveraging our global agribusiness strengths, we are actively exploring and implementing the agriculture value chain model worldwide. Through strong global supply chain and trade activities, we are able to connect the vast demand in the Chinese market with global suppliers and farmers," said Liu, adding Syngenta has brought a number of agricultural products, including Brazilian coffee and Argentine sunflower oil, to the expo.

CrimsonLogic Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based digital trade solutions provider, plans to expand its investment in the Chinese market, further enhance its local team's capabilities and strengthen customer service to deepen cooperation with local governments and business partners in the country, said Ng Chee Keong, the company's vice-president of North-East, Central and Southeast Asia and general manager of its China unit.

"China has played a key role in trade and infrastructure development in member economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations through the tangible growth of the Belt and Road Initiative, further deepening economic, cultural, trade and other exchanges between the two sides," he said. "We are seeing more growth opportunities arising from it."