Officials, executives and academics broadened the case for China Opportunity 2.0, casting China’s innovation ecosystem, opening-up drive and manufacturing scale as drivers of global competitiveness and lower clean-energy costs.
Summer Davos in Dalian reinforced "China Opportunity 2.0" as Beijing’s framing for China’s next phase of growth, with Chinese Premier Li Qiang coupling the concept with pledges to expand market access, fully enforce national treatment for foreign enterprises and improve the business environment as the 15th Five-Year Plan begins. Li said China’s economy has shown "strong resilience and positive momentum" and described its stability as a "safe harbor" in a more uncertain world, while presenting broader openness, innovation-driven development and international cooperation as central to growth. The updated account adds views from executives and academics who pushed back on a revived "China Shock 2.0" narrative, arguing that China’s advances in areas including artificial intelligence, clean energy and biopharmaceuticals are creating wider commercial and industrial spillovers. China spent nearly 4 trillion yuan ($589 billion) on research and development last year, or more than 2.8 percent of GDP, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, while a May survey by the EU Chamber of Commerce in China found 48 percent of respondents viewed Chinese companies in their industry as more innovative than EU peers, versus 24 percent saying the reverse. The US-China Business Council said last month that 95 percent of respondents considered China somewhat to very important for staying globally competitive. The broader argument is that multinational companies are increasingly using China not only as a market or manufacturing base but also as a testing ground and partner for innovation. Dassault Systemes, Merck China and McKinsey Greater China were cited as examples of that view, while experts said China’s manufacturing scale has helped cut global renewable-energy costs. National Energy Administration data cited in the report said China supplies about 70 percent of global wind power equipment and 80 percent of photovoltaic modules, helping reduce average electricity costs for global wind projects by more than 60 percent and for solar photovoltaic projects by more than 80 percent over the past decade. The report also says China is extending its market-opening push through the yearlong "Big Market for All: Export to China" campaign, with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao saying in London that the country’s large middle-income group and supersized market create new opportunities to share with the world.