Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Shanghai this week for his first public visit there in three years, with Beijing pushing a narrative that the city will play an important role in reinvigorating the nation’s economy.
State media video footage using soaring music showed a stoic Xi — who conducted an inspection tour from Tuesday to Wednesday — making a visit to the Shanghai Futures Exchange, watching a robot demonstration and giving speeches to raucous applause.
Shanghai, which is a key base for the China presence of large international companies including Tesla and Disney, struggled through harsh COVID-19 restrictions, with similar measures elsewhere in the country crimping economic activity and affecting global supply chains. But now officials are on a push to position the city as a growth engine, with the science, finance and technology sectors leading the way.
Gu Jie, chairman and CEO of robotics company Fourier Intelligence, said in an interview with state news agency Xinhua that Xi was interested in the humanoid robots on display and “inquired about the robot’s name, asking whether it will be possible to talk with (the robot) in the future.”
Meanwhile Luo Dajin, director of Shanghai’s science and technology commission, and Zhao Dongyuan, a director of the laboratory of advanced materials at the city’s Fudan University, both spoke of Xi’s hope to see the development of world-leading technologies and science.
The push for growth comes as China continues to navigate an economic slowdown exacerbated by a real estate crisis and geopolitical tensions, with this instability leading to foreign businesses withdrawing more money from the country than they are investing. Japanese companies — one of the largest foreign investment groups for the country — have said they plan to reduce their China exposure as a result of the economic conditions, according to a Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China report released in October.
In November, China's manufacturing activity contracted once again — the second consecutive month it had done so — while exports fell again in October.
Against this backdrop, S&P Global has said that China will no longer be the key driver for Asia-Pacific growth, with this title shifting to South and Southeast Asia.
During his Shanghai trip, Xi promoted the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt initiative — which encompasses a variety of cities around the Yangtze River, including Shanghai — and the fostering of intercity collaboration across various industries. On Thursday, Xi reportedly spoke about the area as playing a critical role amid efforts to promote high-quality growth.
In recent weeks, Beijing has shown indications of opening up to foreign business, for example, by approving mergers and joint ventures by U.S. companies — such as one between chipmaker Broadcom and cloud company VMWare, and another involving Mastercard — as well as offering visa-free entry for six countries. The developments have been viewed as an indication that Beijing is serious about following through on its recent business-friendly rhetoric after a widespread tech crackdown triggered unease.
While enticing global businesses to bolster their China investment may still be an uphill battle given political strains and economic uncertainty, Xi’s meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden last month was broadly viewed as a positive step in easing tensions between China and the U.S., which have persisted amid the Biden administration’s continued push to have allies echo U.S. restrictions relating to chipmaking equipment.
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