Policies to boost China's economy

Jiang Weiming, president of DSM China:

China will continue to proactively attract foreign investment and safeguard the legitimate interests of foreign-invested businesses as part of efforts to support the economy. What is your view on this? How will that benefit your business?

These efforts show that China is committed to further opening up the nation's economy, connecting the country to the world, while encouraging open collaboration and synergy, through more inclusive and diversified relationships with foreign countries.

China's manufacturing industry has always played a crucial role in the global economy. The industry's strong competency is one of the key elements that curates the environment for foreign investment.

In addition, since the green economy is on the uptick globally, an environment that supports sustainable development through sustainable businesses will be able to attract investment.

Against this backdrop, the heightened awareness and recognition of the importance of a green and sustainable economy will create market demand for products and solutions that are science-based, sustainable, and scalable to meet the challenges our world faces today.

DSM's products and services are at the heart of supporting China to develop a harmonious society - not only to support urbanization but also to help the larger population in the countryside. Fighting child hunger and malnutrition has always been one of our top missions.

As a global manufacturer, we know first-hand the need for higher-quality, safer, more sustainable and cost-saving materials in industrial manufacturing and equipment. Our advanced materials help the world's manufacturers to produce better products.

Can China's further reform and opening-up level up its business environment, and inject new strength into your industry?

As China continues its reform and opening-up journey, I believe we will see more open collaboration and synergy in the market. It is important for all these to continue to develop at a speed that is sustainable, combined with a balanced strike between the country's economic development and environmental protection.

DSM is well poised to capture opportunities presented as we place sustainability at our core, which means simultaneously pursuing economic performance, environmental quality and social responsibility. The market will need this type of integrated solution going forward.

We have established our regional headquarters in China, as well as our science and technology center in Shanghai, where there are about 80 scientists who work relentlessly to develop global innovations that bring sustainable, positive changes to the world.

Innovation follows collaboration. With China's further reform and opening-up, we believe more fruitful and powerful interplay between China and its stakeholders will be seen. Taking the manufacturing sector as an example, with China's further reform and opening-up, coupled with initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative and smart manufacturing, vitality and innovation will be injected continuously through increased interaction and exchanges with other countries.

China is embarking on responsible and service-oriented manufacturing as the priority to enter high-end sectors and overseas markets.

What is your forecast for China's economy in the next three years? What key issues will you be watching?

In the next three years, I believe China's economy will grow steadily with more foreign collaboration in the market as the country further steps up reform and opening-up, as well as encouraging foreign collaboration and investment through initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative.

As the country's three-year action plan on clean air will be in full speed in the next three years, progress will be seen in renewable and new energy vehicles toward the development of a green transportation system. Meanwhile, China will be halfway through the transformation of smart manufacturing, a program launched in 2015.

The transformation and upgrading of Chinese industries will be worth watching.

Scott Armanini, a Silicon Valley-based venture capitalist:

China will continue to proactively attract foreign investment and safeguard the legitimate interests of foreign-invested businesses as part of efforts to support the economy. What is your view on this? How will that benefit your business?

When you have investment from outside of the country, it creates a climate of cooperation. So the key is to say we welcome foreign investment as a way to establish closer ties between ourselves and others around the world.

That's the whole point of seeking outside investment. It's not to raise capital. It's to create the ties and to have those ties be very meaningful and rewarding for everybody.

This is a situation where, by working together, we actually create more value. The opportunity here is for us to continue to have dialogue and to talk about our differences and philosophies, and how these, when they are executed in practice, have impact - positive, negative, or neutral - on each other.

So when we think about trying to have neutral, beneficial relationships, the key is to find harmony - how we can adjust our behavior so that everybody benefits rather than having one person suffering or both groups suffering.

Lia Zhu contributed to this story.