Economists call for global vision in Chinese manufacturing

Jeffrey Kang, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Cogobuy and IngDan delivers a speech at China Insights Forum held in Shenzhen on Friday. [Zheng Erqi/chinadaily.com.cn]

In the face of the country's urgent need for industrial transformation, Chinese manufacturing should hold a global vision as it upgrades from "Made in China" to "Made by China", and seize the opportunity to go global, economists and industry insiders urged at the China Insights Forum.

The transformation of manufacturing will be a new driving force for China's economic development, the economists said at the forum themed Implications of China's Economic Restructuring: From "Made in China" to "Made by China". Organized by China Daily and co-hosted by IngDan, the forum was held in Shenzhen IngDan Space on March 18.

The forum came amid a crucial time for China, as 2016 marks the starting year of the 13th Five-Year Plan, as well as the first stage of the "Made-in-China 2025" strategy initiated by Premier Li Keqiang to transform China into a smart and innovative world manufacturing power by 2025.

Manufacturing transformation is also the focal point of the just-concluded "Two Sessions" - National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Premier Li set the acceleration of manufacturing upgrade as a task in his 2016 Report on the Work of the Government at the "Two Sessions".

Xu Hongcai, director of economic research at China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said China's economic development is resilient, with the manufacturing industry as a significant driving force.

"The most important thing is that our manufacturing is complete, and this is quite unique," he said, noting China's manufacturing industry should go abroad.

Xu urged Chinese corporations to export our manufacturing industry abroad to help developing countries form a "complete industrial chain", but not just build infrastructures.

"China has such capability... It will inject new energy into the global economy," he added.

China's manufacturers should aim to become "global corporations", said Wang Zhile, research fellow of Chinese Academy of International Trade & Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce and director general of Beijing New Century Academy on Transnational Corporations.

Ownership of overseas capital and the ratio of international staff are crucial criteria of "global corporations," Wang pointed out.

Wang said a few Chinese companies are growing into that stage, mainly through mergers and acquisitions overseas in recent years. He raised Geely, China's automaker which has purchased Sweden's Volvo a few years ago, as a typical example of China's global corporations.