南方财经全媒体记者 见习记者杨雨莱 广州报道
Harley Seyedin, President of the American Chamber of Commerce in South China, expressed his optimistic attitude towards the increasing foreign investment in the Chinese market in the interview with Southern Finance Omnimedia Corp.
Seyedin said, “Our study shows that American enterprises tend to be more optimisticthan Chinese companies even,or companies from Europe and other parts of the world. They have benefited from investing intheChinese market for many years. They have always had plans to reinvest,to expand their existing operations,to capture additional market share. And of course, they will continue to do that. They#39;re excited. They have a very positive attitude towards the future.”
SFC Markets and Finance: At present, it is more convenient for American entrepreneurs to come to China to carry out work. What kind of adjustment have we made compared to before?
Harley Seyedin:Now that the borders are open, and visas are very easy to obtain for American members.They are applying for the visas and they are arriving. And also, the companies are rescheduling their investments and increasing the anticipating investments this year, in order to catch up what they fell behind, as far as investments were concerned. So it looks like there will be many of them coming. As a result of that, much investment will begin to happen. And of course, that will contribute to the expansion of economy at a more rapid pace.
SFC Markets and Finance: In the first half of the year, what is the attitude of American companies toward the Chinese market? More optimistic or pessimistic?
Harley Seyedin:Well, American companies, our study shows that they tend to be actually more optimistic than Chinese companies even, or companies from Europe and other parts of the world. They have benefited from investing in Chinese markets for many years. They have always had the plans to reinvest, to expand their existing operations, to capture additional market share. And of course, they will continue to do that. They#39;re excited. They have a very positive attitude towards the future. They realize that is going to take some time for the economy to turn around, for things to go back to normal pre-Covid time. And they need to be prepared in order to make sure the part of their development is a part of the expansion of the GDP that we all love to see.
SFC Markets and Finance: How do you view the economic performance of China in the first half of this year, especially the economic growth of the Greater Bay Area?
Harley Seyedin:The Greater Bay Area is the future of China. It is going to contribute to the development of China as a whole, of course, development of the Greater Bay Area itself, which is the nine cities, plus Macao and Hong Kong. And it will continue to be a site, because it is established as a place of innovation, a place where you can do a great deal of research and development, a place that has some of the best universities in the world, and graduates of some of the top students from all the universities in the world. It has great PHD service, post PHD study centers. And therefore, all of that together will contribute to the rapid expansion of the GDP here, which will help continue to turn around the economy and to produce the GDP level that we hope to have in the 2nd half of this year.
SFC Markets and Finance: How do you see the current business environment and the foreign investment environment in the Greater Bay Area?
Harley Seyedin:Certainly China as a whole, especially the government in the Greater Bay Area are making every possible effort to make it easier for foreign direct investment, and make it easier for companies to invest and grow and prosper, and be a part of the development of the Greater Bay Area. So I think the feeling is good. The mood is positive towards the Greater Bay Area, We certainly believe that we can invest here, and benefit from that investment in the years to go.
SFC Markets and Finance: What is the role of foreign fund and enterprises in the development of China, especially in the Greater Bay Area? And what kind of relationships foreign and local enterprises need to form in the economic and trade cooperation?
Harley Seyedin:We did work with the Professor Michael Enright who performed a 16-month study on impact of foreigners invest enterprises on the China#39;s economy. As a result of that, he told us that, based on Chinese Department Commerce data, that foreign investment enterprises create some 33% of China#39;s GDP, based on the amount of money they spent by their employees, as well as the FDI they invested. They realized that they were responsible, in many cases, were paying by the 3rd of the taxes in Shanghai, or 50% in Shenzhen. We are a big part of the economy, we want continue to be a part of that, because that#39;s the level of return that#39;s helping us. And of course, we have created a big economy in China, we will continue to grow that, because we are benefiting from it exponentially. Going forward, we need to invest more to capture additional market share. But not only that, but also to be able to keep up with demand for the growing market. That#39;s the fastest growing market in the world.
SFC Markets and Finance: According to the mid-year report, compared to the report that you published in the January, 25% American companies want to increase the investment in China in projects of different sizes of products. What’s the trend of American companies’ investment intentions in China?
Harley Seyedin:Before in the annual report, which we released earlier this year, we know that 68% of American companies plan to reinvest, to expand their existing businesses. All of that 68%, now that we#39;ve asked them again, if their plans have changed because of the Covid policy, 25% of the 68% now have told us that they will increase the amount of money that they had planned on investing, because now they see that the business is going to grow, they need to invest more in order to keep up with customer demand.
SFC Markets and Finance: According to the report, which investment areas do foreign investors in China pay more attention to, and why?
Harley Seyedin:Well, it depends on location, and depends the industry that you#39;re in. We realize that more than 75% of member companies, American companies in South China, are no longer engaged in export business. They#39;re primarily in China, producing business services in China for the Chinese market, but also import a great deal of products, components in order to manufacture for the Chinese market. Have been given that, their interest is the consumer-based market, which grew at over 8% already in the first half of this year. And it#39;s basically the driver of China#39;s recovery going forward. We are a part of that. We want to continue being part of it. American companies are doing very well producing business services for consumers in the Chinese market, for B2B (Business-to-Business), as well as business to customer. And their business is going to continue to be in the research and development, to see what new products and services we can actually produce to deliver to the Chinese market.
SFC Markets and Finance: China proposes to take multiple measures to stabilize the base of foreign trade and foreign investment. What kind of signal does this release? Is confidence very important for investors to invest China?
Harley Seyedin: Confidence is always the biggest driver of the investment. There#39;s no question that China is a growing economy, even though the growth at the moment is not exactly what we wanted it to be. It#39;s slightly slower than we expected, but it is very steady. So we know that China is growing slowly but steadily, and it will eventually get to the point to pre-Covid growth levels very quickly. So we think that the signals that the Chinese government is sending is very positive, that the door is open for foreign investment. The foreign investment is a very important part of China#39;s plan for growth. China has committed to opening up, and continues to commit to further opening up in many new areas. And of course, as foreign business, we are looking very carefully to be able to enter any new area that China opens, and also penetrate the existed open areas as much as we can. We think Chinese market offers a lot of opportunities, and we certainly want to be a part of that.
SFC Markets and Finance: At present, China is further opening the foreign investment environment, as you said, and expanding its open up for the service industry. So, what opportunities does this provide for foreign investors?
Harley Seyedin: The service industry is the driver of most economies. In the U.S., consumer industry, consumer spending, this is primarily services, 75% of the U.S. GDP. In Hong Kong, it#39;s 75% of the GDP. In China, it needs to achieve that level. Those are the value-added services that make any product much more palatable, much more sellable and much more suited to the consumer. So, we want to continue to be a part of that. That requires investment in research and development in order to determine the consumer#39;s taste, the consumer#39;s desire, to create new products that consumer wants and will spend money on. And we want to be a part of that as we go forward.
SFC Markets and Finance: What#39;s your outlook for the economy of China and the Greater Bay Area in the 2nd half year of this year?
Harley Seyedin: The economy began with a good start. It#39;s going five and a half percent for the first half of 2023. Growth is not as rapid for the 3rd quarter as we expect, but I expect by the last quarter of this year, economy will pick up momentum. By middle of next year, it will be at full speed going forward. The Greater Bay Area will grow fastest, faster than any other parts of China. We#39;re happy to be here because we#39;re headquartered right here in Guangzhou, which is right at the top of the Greater Bay Area.
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