US business executives conclude visit to Beijing, call for ongoing dialogue

A group of US senior executives concluded a visit to China on Tuesday following the conclusion of the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, a trip that aimed to promote commercial exchanges, advance economic and policy priorities to further open and reform China's market, and support ongoing US-China dialogues in meetings with Chinese government and business leaders, according to a press release from the organizer, the US-China Business Council (USCBC).

The delegation of the board of directors of the USCBC included executives from the council and some US companies like Boeing Global and United Family Healthcare.

"We appreciate the opportunity to engage with Chinese leaders to promote commercial relations and advocate our priorities for the benefit of our companies and employees," the council's board chair and FedEx Corp President Raj Subramaniam was quoted in the press release as saying.

"We support the two governments' efforts to regularly discuss and seek to manage bilateral and global challenges. The USCBC remains committed to working with the US and China on innovative solutions to make the world safer, healthier and more prosperous," Subramaniam said.

The implementation of more than 300 reform measures in various fields unveiled from the resolution adopted at the just-concluded third plenum will constantly inject new vitality and momentum into Chinese modernization while offering more opportunities for China to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and achieve common development with other countries, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Wednesday at a press conference.

Mao made the remarks responding to a media question regarding the three-day visit of the US delegation, which also included business leaders from Goldman Sachs and Starbucks.

Mao said on Wednesday that the new blueprint for China's reform and opening-up charted by the third plenum has gained wide attention worldwide, and the session sent a strong signal that China will unswervingly stick to reform and opening-up in the new era.

She noted that the landing of these measures will also continuously improve all aspects of institutions and mechanisms, and break down all kinds of obstacles.

In addition to the US business community, domestic and foreign entrepreneurs and observers said that the third plenum sends a positive and warm signal not only to China but also the whole world, elevating their confidence for further investment and development in the country and injecting stability into the world amid growing geopolitical tensions and protectionism.

Moreover, global institutions have retained unchanged confidence in China's steady economic recovery.

The IMF raised China's GDP growth forecast for 2024 to 5 percent in its latest World Economic Outlook (WEO), an upward revision of 0.4 percentage points compared with the April WEO report. HSBC, a multinational bank, said in a report earlier that it expects China to achieve its annual GDP growth target of 5 percent, while noting that China's industrial production and manufacturing investment have become the highlights of economic activity in the nation.