Execs optimistic about China's growth

A1: With the majority of the world still challenged by COVID-19, China has started recovering from the impact of the pandemic quite impressively, leveraging technology and embracing new business and engagement models to become the only major economy to grow according to IMF. This indicates a certain resilience and sustainability of the Chinese market and it is one reason why Microsoft believes that China has entered a "new development stage' as the Chinese government has said.

Microsoft will actively participate in and support economic development, technological innovation and talent exchange in China. We have unwavering confidence in China's future development and we are committed to serving the China market and customers here.

A2: We are encouraged that the 14th Five-Year Plan continues to advance "Innovation Driven Development". Microsoft believes that accelerating the digital transformation process and building business resilience will be essential to the survival and growth of enterprises in the future, whether Chinese or global.

Given that, Microsoft has started a new round of investment in China, from introducing new products, deploying new technologies and services, to further improving our local R&D of innovative technologies, and cultivating local talents. We unveiled a roadmap to further expand our cloud infrastructure and ecosystem investments in China with a new data center region in China to meet customer demand. This will double the capacity of Microsoft's intelligent cloud portfolio again in just a few years.

A3: In the early stage of COVID-19 outbreak, the fast adoption of remote technology and application scenarios in China provided many great examples of "Innovation Driven Development". With the continuous impact and uncertainty around the epidemic, Microsoft believes that accelerating digital transformation and enterprise resilience will remain essential to the future and the development of both Chinese and global enterprises. The innovation that these enterprises will create will continue to serve as global models and marketable solutions for the world.

Microsoft hopes to harness and amplify the advantages of the Chinese partner ecosystem and the partners' deep understanding of industry trends, their familiarity with market needs, and help them master technical capabilities to help more global companies expand their innovation activities in China, bring Chinese innovation to the world, and help transform and upgrade global businesses.

A4: Updating negative lists in China's FTZs and the Foreign Investment Law help fulfill China's ambition to more open the economy in a broader scope of fields and to a greater depth. This will encourage confidence among foreign enterprises and encourage investment into China, strengthening China's competitive advantage and ultimately benefit China's economic recovery.

A5: In 2020, Microsoft committed to becoming carbon-negative as a company by 2030 and to removing all of our historical carbon emissions from the atmosphere by 2050.

We are thrilled to see that the Chinese government places such great importance on sustainable development and we are looking forward to harnessing the power of technology and innovation to help build the more sustainable future that the government aspires to together with the country.

In China, we are focusing on key areas where we believe we can have the most impact: our operations, our products, and our solutions. But we are also prioritizing empowering our partners and our ecosystem to become more sustainable and to helping customers build sustainability through technology innovation.