China contributes to stability of global supply chain

By Chen Ling, People’s Daily

As China has gradually secured remarkable achievements in epidemic prevention and control, regions in the country are taking multiple measures to accelerate orderly work resumption of industries. It addresses the urgent demand of enterprises, and also offers strong support for the stability of global industrial and supply chains.

Shanghai, having had thorough investigation into the problems faced by enterprises, offered a package of solutions and helped 99.9 percent of the foreign-funded companies resume production in the city. Guangdong’s industry and information department sorted out 102 major manufacturers and established a one-to-one service mechanism for them. Jiangxi ensured unimpeded foreign trade channels, and promoted regular operation of its freight services, including the Nanchang-Europe freight trains and Nanchang-Liège all-cargo aircraft.

The international society generally stayed optimistic about the resilience of China’s industrial and supply chains after the outbreak of COVID-19. However, some still worried the spreading virus may exert negative impact in this regard.

In the near term, impacts are unavoidable, with certain industries and enterprises being the primary victim. In particular, given the highly integrated global industrial chain, the epidemic situation overseas will in turn has an influence over domestic production. Some foreign trade enterprises might encounter shrinking export orders, difficulty to fulfill contracts, impeded international logistics, and increasing trade barriers.

China boasts the world's largest, most diversified and complete equipped manufacturing system, which makes it an important link in global supply and industrial chains.

Since the onset of the epidemic, home appliance manufacturers including Gree and Midea immediately launched production lines for masks; automaker SAIC-GM-Wuling developed a full-automatic mask producing machine in just 76 hours; Sinopec established a factory for producing meltblown nonwoven fabric – raw materials for masks – in just 12 days.

Their efforts indicated China’s well-equipped manufacturing system and strong capability of industrial coordination. In the global value chain where productivity and infrastructure are showing greater significance, China has irreplaceable comparable advantages. In a word, the temporary epidemic can’t and won’t shake China’s position in the global industrial and supply chains.

With a sound momentum of epidemic prevention and control, China is speeding up the restoring of orders for both production and social life. Major industries and leading enterprises, including foreign-funded ones, are gradually resuming work and production. It demonstrates the strong resilience of China’s industrial and supply chains, and protects the security of the global supply chain.

Besides, China adopted a series of policies and measures to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, and more targeted plans are to be introduced. Thanks to these efforts, there’s no large-scale transfer of industrial and supply chains from China to overseas, and China is showing stronger appeal to global industries.

In a long-term perspective, China is not only an important link on the global supply chain, but also a significant market of the world. It has both short-term measures to assist enterprises and long-term mechanisms to improve business environment. With a huge market, emerging industries, and improving business environment, the comprehensive advantages of China in global industrial and supply chains will not decrease, but only get stronger.

Facts tell. China’s responsibility in stabilizing the global supply chain has won the favor of more and more foreign enterprises. Danish toy production company Lego plans to open another 80 retail stores in China; Tesla also aims to expand capacity at its gigafactory in Shanghai.

The measures taken by China to resume production with more efforts to open up are contributing Chinese power to the stability of the global supply chain, and also creating Chinese opportunities for international enterprises to share development dividends.

RTG container crane is being tested before being exported at a port equipment manufacturer in Taicang Economic Development Zone, Suzhou, east China’s Jiangsu province, March 16. Photo by Ji Haixin, People’s Daily Online