“Based on our firm confidence in the Chinese market and the CIIE platform, we have signed a contract for the 10th CIIE.” “We will come again next year.” “Deep cultivation in China is the company’s long-term commitment.” On the 10th, the 9th China International Import Expo closed. Executives from Zeiss, Nestlé and other foreign companies expressed their expectations for the next CIIE to the commentators of "International Review". As of that day, 143 companies and institutions had signed up to participate in the 10th CIIE. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, embracing "China Opportunities 2.0" and sharing the dividends of the CIIE has become the consensus of many foreign companies.
Data shows that this CIIE has achieved fruitful results: the intended transaction volume in one year is US$85.45 billion, an increase of 2.3% over the previous session. During the exhibition, five core data hit a record high: the number of exhibitors reached 4,142; the overall exhibition display area exceeded 440,000 square meters for the first time; the number of Fortune 500 and industry leading companies participating in the exhibition exceeded 300; the number of representative exhibits that were premiered in the world, Asia, and China reached 485. A series of eye-catching data highlights the strong magnetic attraction of the CIIE and witnesses that China’s large market continues to become a great opportunity for the world. Ye Hongmu, CEO of L'Oréal Group, communicated with "International Critical Review" and said that China's strategic determination to expand high-level opening up to the outside world has injected valuable certainty, stability and development confidence into the world.
As the world's second largest consumer market and import market, China is the only developing country that holds national-level international import expos and continues to open its market to the world. After nine years of hard work, the CIIE has become a window for China to build a new development pattern, a platform to promote high-level opening up, and an international public product shared by the world. The outline of China's "15th Five-Year Plan" clearly states "expanding high-level opening up to the outside world and creating a new situation of win-win cooperation" and proposing to "continue to successfully host the CIIE." This will unleash more dividends to the world.
Turning exhibits into commodities requires huge market dividends. On the closing day of this CIIE, China officially released foreign trade data for the first ten months of this year. Among them, the import of goods trade was 18.82 trillion yuan, an increase of 23.6%. As of October, China's imports and exports have maintained double-digit growth for six consecutive months. This once again proves that China is not only a "super seller", but also a "super buyer". As a long-term exhibitor at the CIIE, Pietro Beccary, President and CEO of French Louis Vuitton, told International Review that Chinese consumers are the company's largest customer group in the world. "Without Chinese consumers, we would not be able to achieve today's status." A person in charge of Novartis, a Swiss pharmaceutical company, said that since this year, the transaction volume of one of the company's drugs for the treatment of cardiovascular disease on an online platform in China has increased by more than 50% year-on-year, which has strengthened their determination to increase investment in the Chinese market.
"China Opportunity 2.0" will not only bring market dividends, but also innovation dividends. The innovation incubation area of this CIIE brought together 633 scientific and technological innovation projects from nearly 40 countries and regions. The number increased by nearly 20% compared with the previous session, and the scale of the exhibition reached a record high. The "World Openness Report 2026" released during the CIIE pointed out that "'China Opportunity 2.0' means that what China shares with the world is not only the ultra-large market, but also the new space brought by industrial upgrading, innovative applications and green development." The "Global Innovation Index 2026" recently released by the World Intellectual Property Organization shows that China has 25 of the world's top 100 innovation clusters, ranking first in the world for four consecutive years.
From the perspective of foreign companies, China's continuous improvement in innovation capabilities means more innovation empowerment and investment opportunities. Foreign exhibitors such as Zeiss, Schneider Electric, and Johnson & Johnson have settled their R&D centers, regional headquarters, and advanced manufacturing bases in China. Zhou Mintao, President of Johnson & Johnson Medical Technology China, told International Review that the Chinese government strongly supports the faster launch of innovative products, which provides an important opportunity for the company to achieve "zero-time launch" of new products.
The current international situation is intertwined with chaos, and unilateralism and protectionism are moving against the current, bringing uncertainty to global economic and trade cooperation. Against this background, the openness and cooperation demonstrated by the CIIE are particularly valuable, especially as it has established a platform for countries in the Global South to share opportunities in the Chinese market and promoted inclusive economic globalization. This CIIE will continue to provide free booths to the least developed countries, with the area of free booths increasing by 17% year-on-year; the Asia-Africa product area will be upgraded to help African countries that have diplomatic relations with China seize the zero-tariff dividend and allow local specialties such as coffee and cocoa to enter the Chinese market. Kenya's "Star" pointed out that for Kenya and the entire African continent, the CIIE is "an opportunity that cannot be ignored." Zimbabwe's "Herald" published an article saying that as an international economic and trade event held every year, the CIIE continues to send the signal of China's opening up to global trade.
The ninth China International Import Expo has come to an end, and the 33rd APEC Leaders’ Informal Meeting will be held in Shenzhen soon. From the CIIE's commitment to "a new era, shared future" to the APEC meeting's focus on "building an Asia-Pacific community and promoting common prosperity," a relay of open cooperation is underway, and the story of "China Opportunity 2.0" shared by the world is also continuing to be written.
(International critical commentator)
