China strengthens supersize market, investment hub position with high-standard opening up in 14th five-year plan period

This aerial drone photo taken on July 10, 2025 shows a view of Longtan Container Terminal of Nanjing Port in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu province. [Photo/Xinhua]

China has made significant progress on key tasks related to consumption, foreign trade and investment cooperation in the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025). These achievements are expected to continue to inject momentum into global economic growth.

At a press conference held in Beijing on Friday, senior commerce ministry officials highlighted that China has further solidified its position as the world's second-largest consumption market and biggest goods trader.

"The vast Chinese market has become a shared market for the world and will surely continue to be the source of growth and vitality for the world economy," said Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao at the press conference.

The country has also worked to improve the business environment for foreign-funded enterprises during the period, with many multi-nationals saying that China is an "ideal, safe and promising" destination for cross-border investment.

Despite facing challenges from rising unilateralism and protectionism, the officials shared their vision for the upcoming 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), revealing that China will seek to strengthen international cooperation, increase the resilience of trade and strive to build an international trade pattern, featuring openness, cooperation, common development, and mutual benefits and win-win results.

Supersized consumption market

According to Wang, the commerce minister, China's supersized consumption market has expanded during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, reinforcing the nation's position as the second-largest consumer market globally.

With an average annual growth rate of 5.5% in the retail sales of consumer goods since 2021 in China, consumption has contributed around 60% on average annually to the nation's economic growth over the past four years, Wang said, who forecast the sales to top 50 trillion yuan (about $7 trillion) in 2025.

In terms of absolute value, he revealed, China's retail sales of consumer goods are about 80% of those in the United States. However, in terms of real purchasing power, the nation's retail sales of consumer goods have surpassed those in the United States, Wang said, citing World Bank data and calculations.

Visitors select goods at a flower sea agricultural industrial park in Yining county, Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, May 18, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

In illustrating the huge potential of the Chinese consumption market, the minister said that China has ranked top in terms of online retail sales for 12 consecutive years. China has also been the world's biggest consumption market for cars and home appliances such as air conditioners and washing machines.

"China has a population of 1.4 billion. Any product, if multiplied by 1.4 billion, means definitely a supersize market," Wang said, adding that measures will be taken to boost services consumption, which has grown at a much faster rate compared to the consumption of goods.

"The characteristics of China's consumption market, which feature great potential, strong resilience and abundant vitality, have not changed," he said, saying that the ministry will introduce targeted measures in light of the changing times and circumstances to further stimulate goods consumption and tap the potential of service consumption in the next five years.

Ideal investment hub

Data from the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) indicates that as of the end of June this year, China's actual use of foreign direct investment during the 14th Five-Year Plan period had reached a cumulative total of $708.73 billion. This figure meant the country has achieved the $700 billion investment attraction target ahead of schedule.

Photo taken on Dec. 21, 2021 shows a view of the Tiexi Plant of BMW Brilliance Automotive in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning province. [Photo/Xinhua]

Demonstrating confidence in investing in China's investment climate, 229,000 new foreign-funded enterprises were established during the period in the country, an increase of 25,000 compared with the 13th Five-Year Plan period. "Foreign-funded enterprises have contributed one third of China's imports and exports, one fourth of its industrial added value and one seventh of its tax revenue, and have created over 30 million jobs, making significant contributions to China's economic and social development," Vice Minister of Commerce Ling Ji said.

Ling revealed at the press conference that foreign investors have increased their allocations in China's high-tech sectors compared with 2020, with many multinational companies establishing regional headquarters and global R&D centers in China.

To create a favorable environment for foreign investment, China has expanded opening up by lifting restrictions on foreign investment in the manufacturing industry across the country, Ling said.

Additionally, the country has improved its market and policy environment by implementing various measures with regard to government procurement, intellectual property protection, cross-border data flow and fiscal and tax incentives. Since 2023, the MOC has held over 30 roundtable meetings for foreign-funded enterprises, helping resolve more than 1,500 various demands raised by foreign-funded enterprises, he said.

"Investing in China is investing in the future. We hope that the vast number of foreign-funded enterprises can achieve greater development in the process of China's modernization," Ling said.

Win-win results through cooperation

During the past several years, economic globalization faced headwinds, with unilateralism and protectionism on the rise, causing significant disruptions to the international economic order and governance system. Despite these challenges, China has firmly upheld the multilateral trading system by promoting both multilateral cooperation and regional cooperation, vice commerce minister Li Chenggang said at the press conference.

Throughout this period, China's trading partners have become more diverse. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has remained China's largest trading partner for five consecutive years. In 2024, the proportion of China's trade with countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative has exceeded 50% of its total trade, MOC data showed.

"We are a major trading partner of over 150 countries and regions. We not only provide high-quality products and services to the world, but also ensure the resilience and stability of the global industrial and supply chains," Wang said, who stressed that the huge Chinese market is also a shared market for the world.

This photo shows the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), the main venue for the 7th China International Import Expo (CIIE), in east China's Shanghai, Nov. 4, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]

From 2021 to 2024, China imported goods worth 7.4 trillion yuan, MOC data showed. Wang said that from the perspective of imports, the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong accounted for approximately 13.3% of world's total goods imports, very close to the 13.6% share taken by the United States, quoting data from the World Trade Organization.

Responding to a journalist's question about China-U.S. economic and trade cooperation, Wang said that despite the ups and downs in China-U.S. economic and trade relations, the two sides have remained important partners to each other in trade and investment. "In 2024, the trade volume of goods between China and the United States was $688.3 billion, and the trade volume of services was $155.8 billion. Both figures increased by 18% and 34.7%, respectively, compared with 2017."

Wang said that it is inevitable that there will be differences and frictions in China-U.S. economic and trade cooperation, but this is a normal situation and that dialogues and consultations are the best choice to solve problems.

Wang said China is willing to work with the United States, based on the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, to continue to strengthen dialogues and communications, enhance consensus and reduce misunderstandings, and jointly promote the China-U.S. economic and trade relations back to the right track and achieve healthy, stable and sustainable development.