Despite an increasingly complicated and grim external environment, China's stepped-up policy support, domestic enterprises' focus on innovation and a growing inflow of foreign capital are further consolidating market confidence, Robin Xing Ziqiang, chief China economist at Morgan Stanley, told the Global Times in an interview on Tuesday.
The implementation of a package of incremental policies in September last year greatly elevated social confidence and these policies continue to produce effects, Xing said. "Attending this year's Annual Conference of Financial Street Forum 2025, I feel that enterprises have shown increased confidence," he said.
Having focused on innovation, expanding overseas and diversifying their businesses, Chinese enterprises have witnessed a continuous stream of breakthroughs in industrial innovation and corporate global expansion since the end of last year. Both international and domestic investors are starting to re-evaluate the innovation capability of Chinese companies, Xing said.
"Global capital is already chasing the new quality productive forces in China. If you look at the bright spot in China's equity market since September 2024, a lot of rallies have been largely driven by tech names, for example, AI adoption, the localization of GPU, and biotechnology," the economist said.
The number of Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors totaled at least 907 as of the end of August, with their holdings of Chinese shares valued at 949.3 billion yuan ($133.6 billion), the Xinhua News Agency reported.
According to newly disclosed data for the second quarter of 2025, the total market value of northbound funds reached 2.29 trillion yuan, up more than 2 percent from the previous quarter.
Looking ahead to the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period, the Recommendations of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee for Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development, adopted at the adopted at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, set major objectives for the next five years.
These objectives include: significant advancements in high-quality development; substantial improvements in scientific and technological self-reliance and strength; fresh breakthroughs in further deepening reform comprehensively; notable cultural and ethical progress across society; further improvements in the quality of life; major new strides in advancing the Beautiful China Initiative; and further advances in strengthening the national security shield.
"China is way ahead of any other country in manufacturing because of its economies of scale, its synergy of all supply chains within a single industry in China, as well as its talent pool," Xing said.
Every year, there are more than 5 million science, technology, engineering, and mathematics graduates in China. As a result, China may have more potential in using AI for more manufacturing jobs, making products more affordable, he said.
Despite mounting external pressure and domestic challenges, China's GDP grew 5.2 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters of 2025, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), China's economy maintained an annual average contribution of about 30 percent to global economic growth, serving as the world's most crucial driving force for development and fully demonstrating the resilience and vitality of the major economy, an NBS spokesperson said on the release of the data.
(Source: Global Times)