Editorial: Is foreign investment withdrawing from China on a large scale?

Currently, some Western public opinion is once again playing the old tune of "foreign capital withdrawing from China", and some foreign media are using individual cases of multinational corporations adjusting their business to try to piece together a narrative of China's "loss of attractiveness". But is this really the case?

The data provides completely opposite answers. As of 2025, the actual scale of foreign investment utilization in China has exceeded 700 billion yuan for 16 consecutive years. That year, 70392 foreign-invested enterprises were newly established nationwide, a year-on-year increase of 19.1%. The actual use of foreign investment in the e-commerce service industry, medical equipment and device manufacturing industry, aerospace and equipment manufacturing industry, and other industries has shown significant growth, which is consistent with the external evaluation of the "four new business opportunities" of super large scale markets, service industry development, innovation ecology, and open highlands.

To understand the real situation of foreign investment in China, we must not only look at individual cases, but also not be led by the nose by the "headline party". Wal Mart is a good example. In recent years, Wal Mart's stores in China have indeed shrunk, but its Sam's Club has soared. Throughout the 2026 fiscal year, the business in the Chinese market grew rapidly, helping Wal Mart achieve a total revenue of $713.2 billion, up 4.7% year on year. Where is' evacuation '?

It is normal for multinational corporations to adjust their business in China. In the past, some "foreign brands" became pioneers in the Chinese market due to their brand reputation and early technological differences, but that era has long passed. As with many other markets, it is inevitable that the Chinese market will become more mature and competitive. The Chinese economy is a vast ocean deeply involved in global division of labor, and the inflow and outflow of multinational capital in China essentially reflects the natural process of the Chinese market transitioning from "racing to enclosure" to full competition and upgrading.

Some people in the West tend to view Chinese industries as traditional 'low-end industries', but this is a fixed view. With the improvement of comprehensive national strength and industrial transformation and upgrading, China's comparative advantage has shifted. The outward transfer of labor-intensive and low value-added industries at the bottom of the "smile curve" is the result of China's proactive "ecological niche leap" in the value chain. The valuable resources freed up by the "cage for bird exchange" of Chinese industries have provided a higher dimensional growth space for high-tech and high value-added foreign investment, which is a sign of a more mature Chinese market.

Global 'smart money' is also continuously flowing into China. Capital has always followed the underlying logic of maximizing profits and embracing advanced productivity. Taking 2025 data as an example, among industrial enterprises above designated size, the total profit of foreign and Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan invested enterprises increased by 4.2% year-on-year, with a revenue profit margin of 6.7%. In addition, top Wall Street investment banks such as Goldman Sachs and BlackRock ignore political noise and continue to increase their holdings in China's technology and new energy sectors; Switzerland, which represents the world's highest level of high-end manufacturing and precision craftsmanship, saw a 66.8% increase in actual investment in China. These fully demonstrate that China's macroeconomic resource allocation efficiency is still at the forefront of the world, and foreign investment that is in line with China's high-quality development direction can still obtain extremely rich capital returns.

Today, with the accelerated formation of new quality productivity, the logic of foreign investment deeply cultivating the Chinese market has been upgraded from the past "in China, for China" to "in China, for the world". China has the world's only super manufacturing network that covers all industrial categories in the United Nations Industrial Classification, providing the most diverse testing ground for global innovation resources and diluting the marginal costs of innovation from 0 to 1 and from 1 to 100. High end foreign-funded enterprises such as Swiss precision manufacturing and European biopharmaceuticals are flocking here, not only for short-term commercial profits, but also to obtain the "ticket" to the new technological revolution. As Tesla officials told the Global Times, 'There is a huge consumer market here, as well as an innovative ecosystem that constantly breaks through cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence.' 'We are confident in the long-term potential of the Chinese market.'.

Why are companies like BMW and Mercedes Benz still reluctant to part ways with China even under political pressure? Recent surveys by some foreign institutions on multinational corporations show that over 90% of the surveyed companies will continue to invest in China, and nearly 70% of corporate executives have confidence in their development in China in the next 3-5 years. The institutional advantage of China is a huge source of confidence for foreign enterprises. Against the backdrop of some countries frequently raising the stick of tariffs, China's door to opening up is getting wider and wider. The new version of the "Catalogue of Industries Encouraging Foreign Investment" has been implemented, continuously relaxing market access and granting national treatment to foreign investment. The certainty of this policy is even more precious in the current international situation. Zhang Lei, Vice President of Communication for Bayer Greater China and Northeast Asia, told Global Times, "We are not only beneficiaries of China's opening up to the outside world, but also active participants in the past, present, and future

Of course, some individual enterprises cooperate with some countries to generalize the concept of security and forcefully promote the "decoupling and disconnection" measures, reducing their business scope in China. This itself is not a reflection of market rules, let alone proving the so-called "withdrawal from China theory". With the accelerated formation of new quality productivity, the space for China's own development and external cooperation will be further expanded. The global capital that firmly embraces China's new economic landscape will surely share the rich dividends of the times in the transformation and upgrading of the Chinese economy.