U.S.-China Investment Cooperation Forum Held in Beijing

U.S.-China Investment Cooperation Forum Held in Beijing

On July 17, 2012, the U.S.-China Investment Cooperation Forum was held in Beijing. Both the Chinese and U.S. delegates had frank exchanges on the opportunities and challenges of the two-way investment. Both sides believe that the two-way investment will benefit both nations. The Chinese and U.S. governments as well as the business communities should strengthen cooperation and make joint efforts to boost the investment level between the two nations. In order to create an excellent environment for the two-way investment, China and the U.S. should enhance mutual trust and avoid politicizing some economic issues. Mr. Zeng Peiyan, Chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE) and Mr. Thomas Donohue, CEO and President of the US Chamber of Commerce (USCC), addressed the opening ceremony.

The Chinese delegates reckoned that globalization requires all nations to improve their level of opening-up and adhere to the fundamental principles of facilitation and liberalization in trade and investment. The two-way investment between the U.S. and China has achieved great success and is playing an important role in developing their economies. Nonetheless, the investment scale is still inadequate, the economic development in the two nations is imbalanced and does not match their status in the world economy. 

Regarding the America’s concern over the tightening investment environment in China, Chinese delegates emphasized that such as situation has mainly resulted from the global economic slowdown and other factors such as the increasing environmental pressure and the sharp increase in resource and labor costs. The Chinese government will unswervingly follow a win-win strategy of opening up, devote itself to create a more open and sound environment for foreign investment. With the implementation of various policies, China will continue to improve its investment environment.

Apart from that, the Chinese delegates pointed out that some industries in the U.S., especially public utilities and infrastructure are yet to be open fully. Chinese companies still face a number of barriers when investing in the U.S., such as the tight control over the export of technology, inadequate transparency in the security scrutiny of foreign merger & acquisition cases as well as the bias against Chinese companies.

Looking into the prospect of the two-way investment between the U.S. and China, the Chinese delegates said that the economies of the two nations will continue to complement each other for a long time due to different industrial levels and resource endowment. There is great scope for investment in the above mentioned fields. Currently, the two countries have devoted themselves to economic restructuring, that brings massive opportunity for investment. The two sides should seek common interests during their economic restructuring, give their advantages into full play and discover potential for future economic cooperation.

The US delegates hoped that China can continue to strengthen the protection of intellectual property and propel the reform of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs). This will not only help the U.S. companies to invest in China and conduct technology cooperation, but also play a crucial role in the technological innovation of Chinese companies, as well as speed up Chinese companies’ expansion into the international market.

The forum is co-hosted by CCIEE and USCC and aims to be a platform for the Chinese and American governments and business communities to exchange views, and provide Chinese enterprises with constructive suggestions on investing in the US.  More than 300 officials, CEOs and scholars from the two countries participated in the forum.