China is taking measures to entice the multinationals in the country

March 6, 2023: China is taking all the stops to keep multinationals such as Apple and its supplier Foxconn in the state.

Such efforts to draw foreign investment come as the pandemic and geopolitical pressures push the firms to diversify their supply chains from China.

For the beginning of 25 years, the American Chamber of Commerce in China found that much lower half of the respondents to its annual survey stated China as a top three investment focus. The survey found that the number of companies considering or beginning to relocate their manufacturing and sourcing outside of China rose by ten percentage points from a year ago.

The majority of respondents think about something other than relocating their supply chains, the AmCham report said.

AmCham said the survey was conducted much longer, and results have mostly stayed the same since China ended its strict Covid controls.

After such a decrease in sentiment, China is working hard to keep foreign firms investing and helping domestic growth. The Commerce Ministry said that for the initial time, it would launch programs for an “Invest in China Year.”

In an indication of how hard local countries are trying to draw foreign dollars, the region announced top officials from Henan province in central China personally called Foxconn Chairman Young Liu the previous week during his visit to his firm’s factory there.

Foxconn operates the largest iPhone manufacturing facility in Henan’s capital, Zhengzhou.

In China, the Chinese Communist Party takes the lead in decision-making. State media said the party secretaries of both Zhengzhou places and Henan provinces met with Foxconn and the mayor and governor. Such high-level participation in the talk with Foxconn indicates that any matters discussed can be implemented more quickly.

During a Covid outbreak and subsequent lockdown in the previous year, Foxconn’s factory in Zhengzhou became a hotspot of attention when a few of its roughly 200,000 workers left and walked home.

Apple later stated that the Zhengzhou factory disruptions would delay deliveries of a few iPhone 14 models.

China completed its stringent Covid controls. Foxconn’s Zhengzhou factory was producing at total capacity, with staff which works two shifts to meet the high demand of the client, factory manager Wang Xue told local media.

Foxconn is confirming its chairman visited Henan and planned to collaborate with the local administration on projects. But the company did not talk about the details of those investment ideas or whether they intend to shift production out of China.