Beyond borders: Beijing equips Chinese firms for global stage amid trade jitters

With domestic margins shrinking and global trade risks rising, China’s commerce authorities are unveiling a state-backed business resource aimed at helping companies navigate and accelerate their global expansions.

A national-level service platform will serve as a centralised full-service hub addressing companies’ common needs, including policy consultation, business services, country-specific information, resource matching and risk management, according to Wang Ya, an official heading the foreign investment management department under the Ministry of Commerce.

The platform will be released on the ministry’s website soon, he added, speaking at a press conference on Monday.

The initiative comes amid a rise in global expansion efforts by Chinese firms, as narrowing domestic earnings and rising production capacity push more companies to “go global” – with amplified China-US trade tensions last year adding urgency to the push.

Wang Zhihua, head of the Department of Foreign Trade at the ministry, described this year’s trade environment as presenting “both strategic opportunities and risks, with more uncertainty and hard-to-predict factors”.

“[We will] make every effort to stabilise the fundamentals of foreign trade … and contribute to a strong start for the 15th five-year plan,” he said, referring to the latest entry in a line of expansive blueprints that have set the tone for the country’s development for decades.

Wang Zhihua added that new policies would be rolled out at an appropriate time to support trade firms and help them diversify markets.

South China Morning Post