Qian Naicheng, Ambassador of China to Turkmenistan
On the morning of March 28, 2025, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with representatives of the international business community at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing and delivered an important address. As Ambassador of PRC to Turkmenistan, I’d like to share with Turkmenistan friends important contents of the aforementioned address of President Xi Jinping.
1. Regarding the role of foreign businesses in China, President Xi Jinping noted that thanks to reform and opening up, and importantly to actively leveraging foreign capital, China was able to rapidly enter the global market and catch up with the times in great strides. Foreign businesses and investment in China have played an important role in China’s development, driven economic growth and employment, boosted technological and managerial progress, and facilitated reform and opening up. They have helped China integrate more deeply into the global industrial division of labour, actively align with international high-standard economic and trade regulations, and drive reforms in economic, technological, ecological, and other systems and mechanisms. Foreign businesses have also actively participated in China’s poverty alleviation efforts and other social welfare initiatives, forging profound friendships with the Chinese people.
All of this shows that foreign businesses are important participants in the Chinese modernization drive, in the country’s reform, opening and innovation, and in its interconnectivity with the world and integration into economic globalization. Foreign businesses investing in China have generally enjoyed handsome returns. As an ancient Chinese saying goes, “You offer me a peach, and I return it with jade,” embodying the spirit of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation.
2.Regarding China’s opening up policy, President Xi Jinping stressed that China is advancing high-standard opening up and taking solid steps to expand institutional opening up, such as that of rules, regulations, management, and standards. China is unswervingly promoting reform and opening up. China’s door will only open wider. The policy of welcoming foreign investment has not changed and will not change. China has developed sound regulations, policies and procedures for foreign investment. China has strengthened foreign investment legislation, promoted trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and made active efforts to foster a first-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based and internationalized.
China enjoys long-standing political stability as well as law and order, and is widely recognized as one of the safest countries in the world. China has been and will remain an ideal, secure, and promising destination for foreign investors. Embracing China is embracing opportunities, believing in China is believing in a better tomorrow, and investing in China is investing in the future.
3. Regarding China’s specific measures to further expand opening up, President Xi Jinping said that lowering the threshold of market access will be a key priority in the next phase of opening up. This year, we will expand pilot opening programs in selected areas and accelerate opening in sectors such as culture and education. At the same time, we will work to resolve the issue of “big doors open, but small doors remain closed” in market access, ensuring that foreign businesses not only gain entry into opened sectors but also enjoy full and fair access in operations. We will ensure that foreign businesses have fair and lawful access to production factors, accelerate the development of a unified national market, make efforts to rectify the unhealthy competition in certain sectors. We will ensure that products manufactured in China by foreign businesses can participate in government procurement on an equal footing in accordance with the law. We will also provide as much convenience as possible for them to trade and invest in China, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign businesses in accordance with the law.
The steady, sound, and sustainable development of China-U.S. relations serves the fundamental interests of both peoples. The essence of China-U.S. economic and trade relations is mutual benefit and win-win cooperation. Trade frictions should be properly addressed through dialogue and consultation on the basis of equality. China will handle its relationship with the United States in accordance with the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation. At the same time, China will unswervingly pursue a path of peaceful development, actively promote the resolution of international and regional hotspot issues, and strive to create a favorable external environment for the development of foreign businesses.
The Chinese government has consistently emphasized that Chinese companies operating abroad must comply with local laws and regulations, respect local cultures and customs, operate with integrity, and actively fulfil their social responsibilities. Likewise, foreign businesses in China are expected to do the same.
4. Regarding China’s position on economic globalization, President Xi Jinping pointed out that China upholds true multilateralism, promotes universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, actively participates in global economic governance, and is committed to building an open world economy. Foreign businesses, especially multinational companies, play an important role and bear significant responsibility for maintaining the global economic order. We should join hands and advance economic globalization in the right direction.
—We must jointly safeguard the multilateral trading system. The multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at its core, is the cornerstone of international trade. At present, the World Openness Index continues to decline, while unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise. Multilateralism and free trade are facing severe challenges. We must uphold the principles and rules of the WTO, continue advancing trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and encourage all countries to expand the “pie” of shared development through greater openness. Many foreign businesses, especially multinational companies, carry substantial global influence. We hope you will speak with reason, act with pragmatism, firmly oppose retrogressive moves that turn back the clock of history, reject zero-sum thinking, and actively promote cooperation and mutual benefit.
—We must work together to maintain the stability of global industrial and supply chains, which is essential for the healthy development of the world economy. “Decoupling and breaking the chain” will harm others without benefiting oneself and lead nowhere. Some foreign businesses serve as key players in global supply chains, forming symbiotic and mutually beneficial industrial ecosystems with a wide network of upstream and downstream partners. Upholding the spirit of contract and taking root in host countries not only supports the long-term growth of these enterprises but also contributes to the overall stability of global supply chains. We hope you will adopt a long-term, strategic perspective, not blindly follow various behaviors that disrupt the security and stability of the global industrial and supply chains, and inject more positive energy and certainty into global development.
—We must work together to protect the international environment for openness and cooperation. Certain countries have adopted the so-called strategy of“high fences and small yards”, imposed tariff barriers, and politicised, instrumentalised, weaponised, and pan-securitised economic and trade issues—pressuring businesses to take sides and make decisions that defy market logic. Such actions run counter to market rules and the prevailing trend toward openness. Enterprises are market actors. We hope you will respect market principles, uphold market rules, make independent business decisions, and work together to foster an open, inclusive, and stable global economic order. /// nCa, 8 April 2025 (in cooperation with embassy of China in Turkmenistan)