The international epidemic situation is severe, and the "foreign investment withdrawal theory" is untenable

The international epidemic situation is severe, and the "foreign investment withdrawal theory" is untenable

■ Observer · "Resilience" series of comments on promoting recovery

The epidemic is still spreading overseas, and China's industrial chain has basically recovered. The key to stabilizing foreign investment lies in further expanding the depth and breadth of opening up and establishing a "safe haven" for foreign investment.

The situation of prevention and control of overseas epidemics is still grim. At present, more than 60 countries or regions have declared a state of emergency one after another, and some have also adopted measures to "close the country" and "close the city." For this reason, the United Nations report states that due to the impact of the epidemic, global foreign direct investment is expected to decline by 5% to 15% in 2020, or it will reach its lowest point since the outbreak of the international financial crisis in 2008; related officials also said that although China is also affected Impact, but China's fundamentals of attracting foreign investment will not change.

Undoubtedly, this year's foreign direct investment is facing great pressure, and it is comprehensive and multi-angled. Some concerns such as "manufacturing withdraw from China" have been raised again. Against this background, how to stabilize the fundamentals of attracting foreign investment? In my opinion, the answer is not "foreign" or "domestic", but to insist on "I".

Adhering to "I" as the main source of stability in foreign investment, we must first continue to improve the efficiency of resuming work and production and fully open the domestic supply chain. At present, with the lifting of Hubei, the obstacles to resumption of work and production are gradually being eliminated. Compared with many countries, which are still "country to fight the epidemic", China's economy has gone through the most difficult stage and is steadily returning to normal.

Apple CEO Cook said earlier this month that Apple has restarted 80% of its physical stores in China, and its factory in China has resumed work. It is currently in the process of ramping up capacity. When Cook said these things, the epidemic in our country had not been fully controlled. Today, many of Apple's stores in other countries have closed due to the epidemic.

From the perspective of the global market, China's restoration of production capacity as soon as possible can also provide product support to other "anti-epidemic" countries. Therefore, as the SMEs resume work, the supply chain in the domestic market will be fully opened, and the connection between upstream and downstream enterprises, affiliated enterprises and supporting enterprises will gradually be restored. This is also an important attraction for foreign investment. In particular, products that mainly meet the needs of the Chinese domestic market will become the focus of foreign investment.

Adhering to "I" as the main source of stability for foreign investment is to better establish China's good world image in accordance with the concept of "community of human destiny". This will have a positive effect on attracting foreign investment and become a solution to the problem of attracting foreign investment in the epidemic. key.

In the face of the epidemic, China has done a good job in its own prevention and control work, accumulated experience in epidemic prevention, and strengthened cooperation with the World Health Organization; on the other hand, it has done its utmost to provide support and assistance to other countries in the event of epidemics in protecting materials; At the same time, sending medical experts and medical staff to countries with severe epidemics to guide and assist them in their work has truly reflected the concept of "community of human destiny" and has been recognized by most countries.

A good international image is specific to the level of foreign investment stabilization, which is to use better credit and services to create an environment that attracts foreign investment. Prior to the epidemic, India, Vietnam, and other countries were struggling to catch up in terms of attracting foreign investment, and even gave more policy preferences. However, the outbreak has allowed foreign capital to see the resilience and advantages of China's production chain.

On February 25, a domestic auto parts manufacturer shipped 422 products of 80.45 tons to Chicago. On the same day, Bangkok, Thailand also received 94 tons of Ford charter parts from Chinese manufacturers. Do not underestimate these two "air transports", this is the embodiment of "China's credit" in the epidemic.

Earlier, when the epidemic situation appeared in China, some people in some countries clamored for the outflow of Chinese manufacturing. These trustworthy and efficient services have allowed foreign businessmen to see the integrity and service consciousness of Chinese businessmen. This is also an important "soft power" for stabilizing foreign investment.

Sticking to the "I" principle is to make China an important choice for foreign investment when the willingness to invest in foreign investment weakens.

On the one hand, China's expanding opening up and deepening reforms are very attractive to foreign investors. In particular, the opening up of the financial industry has become its key focus area. From April 1 this year, China will officially lift restrictions on foreign ownership of securities companies and public fund management companies, and the depth and breadth of foreign participation in the domestic market will be greatly enhanced. On the other hand, China's efficiency in combating the epidemic, resuming production and resuming production, and its ability to manage complex issues can also enhance investors' "stability".

In short, there is a lot of pressure to stabilize foreign investment this year, but as long as we focus on the "I", we will continue to deepen reform and expand opening up, and it is not difficult to achieve the goal of stabilizing foreign investment. After all, foreign investment also has a way out. In particular, when developed countries in Europe and the United States are severely impacted by the epidemic, China can take more proactive actions to build a safe haven for foreign investment.

□ Tan Haojun (Finance columnist)