Recent visits by multiple foreign leaders to China open up broad space for economic, trade cooperation: MOFCOM

Asked by a foreign media regarding that in early 2026, multiple foreign leaders have already visited China, and how much investment in China these visits have helped generate, He Yadong, a spokesperson of China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), said at a regular press conference on Thursday that, since the beginning of this year, leaders including South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer have led delegations to China.

These visits have further deepened mutual understanding and trust, opened up broad space for bilateral economic and trade cooperation, and strengthened the confidence of multinational companies to invest in China and deepen their presence here, said the spokesperson.

In 2025, South Korea’s manufacturing investment in China grew by 14.1 percent year-on-year; Canada’s investment in China’s high-tech industries increased by 11.7 percent year-on-year; Finland’s manufacturing investment in China rose by 21.7 percent year-on-year; and UK investment in China grew by 15.9 percent year-on-year, according to the spokesperson.

On a further note, He said that recent survey reports from the Canada China Business Council, the EU Chamber of Commerce in China, the British Chamber of Commerce in China, and the American Chamber of Commerce in China showed that the majority of multinational companies still regard China as a major investment destination and continue to increase their investment.

During the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30), China will steadily advance toward high-quality development, continue to expand high-level opening-up, firmly uphold the multilateral trading system, and strengthen equal and mutually beneficial economic and trade relations with all countries. These efforts will provide favorable expectations for the long-term development of foreign-invested enterprises in China, He said.

Going forward, the MOFCOM spokesperson said that we will deepen reform of the systems and mechanisms for promoting foreign investment, continue to expand institutional opening-up, optimize the business environment, and accelerate the creation of new advantages in attracting foreign investment.

“We aim to make China’s vast market a major global opportunity, enabling foreign-invested enterprises to be willing to come, able to stay, and develop well, and to become important participants in Chinese modernization,” he said.

Global Times