China’s 15th Five-Year Plan Unveiled, Attracting Global Investors with Clear Opportunities

The fourth session of the 14th National People’s Congress concluded in Beijing on March 12, at which the Outline for National Economic and Social Development during the 15th Five-Year Plan Period was approved. For many foreign institutions, this grand "construction blueprint" of China not only maps out the development direction of the world’s second-largest economy in the next five years, but also presents a clear "opportunity list" for global investors.

Senior executives from many foreign enterprises said they are willing to actively seize the new development opportunities contained in the 15th Five-Year Plan Outline and continue to deepen their presence in the Chinese market.

Jiang Ying, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Deloitte China, commented that the Outline translates long-term strategic goals into practical actions at each stage through systematic layout and phased adjustments, maintaining continuity while ensuring flexibility. She pointed out that the Outline, which puts forward 109 major projects — an increase compared with the 14th Five-Year Plan period, sets a target of an average annual growth of over 7% in R&D investment, and builds a full-chain cultivation system for future industries. It plays the role of a "compass", providing clear track guidance for local governments and enterprises in China, especially in promoting the in-depth integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation.

Hu Zhizhi, President of UBS Group China and Chairman of UBS Securities, noted that the innovative vitality displayed by Chinese enterprises in fields such as artificial intelligence, high-end manufacturing, semiconductors and new energy is reshaping global investors’ perception of Chinese assets. The 15th Five-Year Plan Outline proposes accelerating high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and leading the development of new quality productive forces, which will further promote Chinese assets from an "allocation option" to a "strategic necessity" and provide historic opportunities for foreign financial institutions with global resource allocation capabilities to participate in China’s high-quality development.

Many senior executives of foreign enterprises in China stated that a China with clear planning, clear goals and continuous innovation will attract foreign capital to seize opportunities and advance in-depth into the industrial chain.

Zhao Mingqi, Chief Executive Officer of Prologis China, said that the Outline’s proposal to strengthen the support of computing power facilities is highly consistent with Prologis China’s strategic planning. As a world-leading new economy investment management and industrial service provider, Prologis has opened up the path of upgrading logistics parks into computing power centers and is continuously increasing investment and operation efforts in AI computing power centers in China to better serve industries such as finance and the Internet.

China is not only the "world factory" but also the "world market". Zhu Jiangliu, Vice President of Corporate Affairs at Budweiser China, said that the Outline’s proposals such as "building a strong domestic market" and "vigorously boosting consumption" have strengthened Budweiser Group’s confidence in deepening its presence in China’s consumer sector. "We see great potential especially in the integration of new consumption scenarios with cultural and social experiences, and plan to introduce world-class IPs such as the ‘Tomorrowland Electronic Music Festival’ into China to create high-end consumption scenarios."

A number of foreign institutions indicated that the 15th Five-Year Plan Outline sends a clear signal of China’s commitment to expanding opening-up and advancing high-level institutional opening-up, which will inject inexhaustible motivation into the development of foreign enterprises in China and their cooperation with local partners.

Zhang Lei, Vice President of Communications for Bayer Group Greater China and Northeast Asia, said that from the accelerated approval of innovative drugs to achieve global simultaneous listing, to the significant support for biopharmaceuticals and other fields in the new Catalogue of Industries Encouraging Foreign Investment, and the continuous empowerment of opening-up platforms such as the China International Import Expo, China is building a high-quality innovation platform for multinational enterprises through institutional opening-up. The Outline’s proposal to expand high-level opening-up and create a new situation of win-win cooperation has further strengthened Bayer’s confidence in developing in China and sharing China’s opening-up opportunities.

Xia Jun, Managing Partner of Ernst & Young Central China, stated that the Outline’s commitment to ensuring "access and operation rights" addresses the core concerns of foreign enterprises, helping to break down various hidden barriers and create a transparent, stable and predictable institutional environment. "This shift from ‘providing preferential treatment’ to ‘establishing mechanisms’ is the cornerstone of enhancing foreign capital’s long-term confidence."

Hu Zhizhi added that China is both a "power source" and a "stabilizer". The 15th Five-Year Plan Outline has defined the direction for the high-quality development of China’s financial market and provided a clearer, more stable and predictable policy framework for foreign financial institutions to deepen their roots in China.

From the perspective of Standard Chartered Group, innovation and domestic demand are the two core priorities in the 15th Five-Year Plan Outline. China’s economic growth momentum will come more from technology-driven development, productivity improvement and more vigorous policies to expand domestic demand. Bill Winters, Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Group, said that China’s economy is "stable, predictable, dynamic and forward-looking", and in the context of global economic uncertainty, "stability is a very good thing".