Further policies to promote greater growth, opening-up

Comparable opinions were expressed by Lyman Tu, vice-president for China and Southeast Asia at Wilo SE, a German provider of pumps and pump systems, who said the company will add investment in China and put a new plant into operation in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, in early 2023 after seeing its sales revenue soar by more than 20 percent year-on-year in the country in 2021.

"Together with other manufacturing bases in China, the new factory's products will not only supply the Chinese market, but also be exported to other emerging markets," he said, adding China's broad market prospects, integrated supply chain and improving market environment are the incentives for Wilo to expand its presence. The country will likely become the group's largest market by 2023.

Lu Chengyun, a researcher at the Institute of Transportation Research under the National Development and Reform Commission, said China's logistics industry, bolstered by factors such as a well-developed transportation infrastructure, China-Europe freight train services and the active participation of global players, has greatly facilitated global companies to carry out export business in China and boosted domestic consumption.

Backed by new opening-up policies, multilateral trade initiatives and high-standard business platforms, such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement and the annual China International Import Expo, the actual use of foreign direct investment into China expanded 9.9 percent on a yearly basis to 1.16 trillion yuan during January-November period of 2022, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed.

Zhang Yongjun, a researcher at the Beijing-based China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said that China will remain an attractive market, a superior industrial cluster and an increasingly efficient innovation hub for most multinational companies.

"The Chinese market increasingly demonstrates features of its own in consumption patterns, domestic technology and business model evolution, which is different from other markets, calling for business model localization," he said, noting that engagement and business models of multinational companies need to evolve accordingly to better participate in China's future growth.

Echoing that sentiment, Edward Hu, managing director of China for Swiss company International Workplace Group, the world's largest serviced office firm by sales revenue, said the company is optimistic about its growth in China in 2023.

Since more domestic and foreign companies have adopted flexible working spaces as an important part of their corporate real estate strategy in China over the past three years, IWG will accelerate the pace of opening new service facilities in the country in 2023 to meet the high market demand for serviced offices