* China's devotion to advancing opening up has reinforced its appeal for foreign companies and investors amid flagging global economic recovery and headwinds of protectionism.
* Last year, foreign direct investment in the Chinese mainland, in actual use, expanded 6.3 percent year-on-year to 1.23 trillion yuan (about 178 billion dollars).
* Ahead of the "two sessions," in a global survey Xinhua conducted on the development of China, more than 95 percent of the respondents agree that China made impressive achievements in the past decade.
BEIJING, March 8 -- A string of positive signals is coming out China's ongoing "two sessions" -- an economic growth target of around 5 percent for 2023 and reaffirmed commitment to high-level opening up. These have boosted the global business community's confidence in China's continued contribution to the world economic recovery and stability.
When attending a deliberation on Monday at the first session of the 14th National People's Congress, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged efforts to meet the requirements of building a high-standard socialist market economy and promoting high-standard opening up.
A Fuxing bullet train runs on the China's section of the China-Laos Railway on Jan. 27, 2023. (Photo by Xu Zhangwei/Xinhua)
ANCHOR FOR GLOBAL ECONOMIC STABILITY
China's devotion to advancing opening up has reinforced its appeal for foreign companies and investors amid flagging global economic recovery and headwinds of protectionism.
Looking back to the past five years, China has made major achievements in economic and social development, with its GDP growing to 121 trillion yuan (17.5 trillion U.S. dollars) at an average annual rate of 5.2 percent, according to the government work report delivered at the opening meeting of the session on Sunday.
As China steadily pushes forward economic recovery to promote high-quality development, the agenda for 2023 is set to be dominated by one topic in particular: growth.
These days, global financial banks have raised their forecast for the world's second-largest economy in unison. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lifted its projection for China's economic growth in 2023 to 5.2 percent. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and other investment banks have also revised upward their forecasts.
"The rebound in China will be a net positive for the economy; the growth effect should dominate," Thomas Helbling, deputy director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department, told a February press briefing.
Among the major driving factors for China's social and economic development, sci-tech innovation has a paramount role.
