By Shang Kaiyuan, People’s Daily

Chinese auto brands commanded the spotlight at the 2026 Paris Motor Show, which ran from Oct.12 to 18. Of the 59 exhibitors, over 20 were Chinese companies, accounting for nearly 40 percent of the total, a record high.

Brands showcased over 100 vehicles, including more than a dozen global debuts. Their footprint at the event kept expanding.

Chinese automakers are expanding into Europe through a long-term approach rooted in local markets and aimed at mutual benefit and win-win outcomes.

Across the industrial chain, Chinese companies are steadily advancing their localization efforts. 

XPENG, a Chinese new energy vehicle manufacturer, has begun production at a Magna plant in Austria. Chinese auto giant BYD announced during the show that it would build two additional plants in Europe, following the establishment of its factory in Hungary. 

Chery, another Chinese automaker, said it would reopen an idle vehicle assembly plant in Barcelona, a project expected to create more than 1,000 jobs. Chinese automaker GAC made localization a priority from the outset, establishing a design center in Milan and preparing to set up a European R&D center. 

“In Europe, for Europe” has become a shared commitment among Chinese automakers seeking to build a lasting presence in the market.

Chinese brands are also working to win over consumers. BYD, MG — a marque owned by Chinese automaker SAIC Motor — and XPENG have introduced extended warranties to reassure buyers about after-sales service. 

An international survey of 2,500 European respondents found that 55 percent were willing to consider a Chinese brand for their next car purchase, up from just 43 percent two years ago. In Hungary, around three-quarters of respondents had already included Chinese brands such as BYD on their shopping lists. Even in Germany, a major automotive manufacturing country, 52 percent of respondents were open to Chinese models, compared with just 37 percent in early 2024.

At its core, China-Europe cooperation in the auto industry is about helping both sides advance their transition to electrification, rather than engaging in a zero-sum contest. 

As Zhu Jiangming, chairman of Chinese new energy vehicle maker Leapmotor, noted, only by taking both sides’ needs into account can cooperation deliver results greater than the sum of its parts. 

Europe’s auto industry is at a critical turning point, facing practical challenges including lengthy R&D cycles and high conversion costs. The participation of Chinese companies is giving consumers more choices, expanding business opportunities for dealers, and injecting technological expertise and investment into the upgrading of local industries.

The strong complementarity between the two sides has been demonstrated repeatedly in practice. Renault completed the development of a new model in just 16 months by drawing on its team in China. An electric version of Citroen’s classic 2CV could also move toward production more quickly with the help of Leapmotor’s technology platform. 

A representative of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association has acknowledged that Europe’s auto industry cannot complete its transition to electrification without the technological capabilities and industrial supply-chain strengths of Asian companies.

Yet the growing momentum for industrial cooperation has not been matched by a similar shift in the policy environment. While cooperation between Chinese and European automotive businesses continues to deepen, some European politicians are becoming increasingly wary of China. The contrast between these two trends is striking. 

This tension was particularly evident recently: even as Chinese brands made a collective appearance at the Paris Motor Show, Chinese companies were not invited to a banquet held at the Elysse Palace. The episode serves as a reminder that the reality of China-Europe cooperation extends beyond the lively scenes at the auto show. Political wariness continues to create uncertainty for businesses seeking to work together.

If Europe wants to attract Chinese investment to create jobs and support its industrial transition, it needs to respect the realities of cross-border investment and provide a stable, predictable policy environment for legitimate business cooperation. Clinging to a zero-sum mindset and repeatedly erecting trade and investment barriers in the name of security will ultimately undermine businesses’ willingness to cooperate and cause Europe to miss opportunities for its own transformation.

The automotive industry is a prime example of deep global integration, with openness and cooperation remaining the prevailing trend. As two of the world’s major economies, China and Europe have far more in common economically than they have competing interests. Faced with a new wave of industrial transformation, Europe should do better to seize the opportunity to work with China for mutual benefit than to focus on building walls and barriers. In doing so, both sides can share the benefits of development.

By Zhang Mengxu, People’s Daily

The 140th China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, is underway in Guangzhou, south China’s Guangdong province, attracting around 340,000 overseas buyers. 

Business negotiations remain brisk inside the exhibition halls, but many buyers are also taking their visits beyond the fairgrounds to factories across the Pearl River Delta. They are touring production lines, examining supply chains, and discussing joint R&D. 

More and more overseas buyers are coming to China not just to source products, but to find solutions — a growing trend in China’s trade and economic exchanges with the world.

The shift from buying products to seeking solutions reflects a broader evolution in the value China’s industries offer.

In the past, international buyers often arrived in China with specific shopping lists. They compared prices, checked delivery schedules, and placed orders, with cooperation largely ending once a transaction was completed. 

Today, many overseas buyers come armed with technical blueprints and market hurdles: how to streamline the whole supply chain from product design to mass production; how to drive down costs quickly when rolling out new technologies; and how to shorten R&D lead times amid ever-shifting consumer trends.

These questions are difficult for any single factory to answer on its own. China’s comprehensive industrial system and well-developed supply chain networks, however, can provide end-to-end solutions. Overseas buyers who come to China to find partners gain more than a product supplier. They gain access to a complete industrial ecosystem encompassing raw material supplies, component manufacturing, technical services, and large-scale production.

The shift from supplying products to coordinating across entire industrial chains shows how the competitiveness of Chinese manufacturing is increasingly extending across the value chain.

Innovations in new energy vehicles, intelligent manufacturing, and industrial robotics span multiple fields, including mechanical engineering, electronic components, software systems, and materials processing. If any link fails to connect smoothly with the others, a promising technical concept may never make it to mass production. 

China’s advantage lies in its ability to bring together the necessary supporting resources within a relatively compact industrial network, rapidly adjust designs in response to market feedback, and refine products through large-scale production.

When overseas buyers visit factories in person, they are looking beyond the production capabilities of an individual company. They are also assessing how efficiently upstream and downstream businesses work together and how quickly the wider industrial ecosystem can respond to their needs.

The shift from Chinese companies going global to overseas buyers coming to China reflects a change in direction, but the underlying principle remains the same: openness, cooperation, mutual benefit and win-win outcomes.

This is more than a simple reversal of the flow of business. It reflects closer two-way engagement in international trade as industrial specialization deepens. By expanding overseas, Chinese companies can reach new markets and allocate resources globally. Overseas businesses, meanwhile, can tap into China’s industrial support networks, technological capabilities and market scale to unlock new growth opportunities.

Supply chains have never been isolated production lines exclusive to a single country. They are collaborative networks in which businesses across countries participate and work together. By complementing one another’s strengths, they can create greater value together.

At a time when global industrial and supply chains face multiple sources of uncertainty, businesses are placing greater emphasis than ever on supply chain stability, flexibility and resilience. For overseas buyers, a visit to a Chinese factory is therefore more than a sourcing trip. It is also a vote of confidence in China’s industrial capabilities, business environment and development potential.

Where traditional trade exhibitions once functioned primarily as transactional platforms, direct industrial engagement now cultivates enduring partnerships. A single facility tour can initiate a multi-year agreement; a joint production initiative can integrate enterprises across multiple regions. 

China’s foreign trade is evolving not only in how businesses cooperate, but also in the role Chinese industries play in global commerce. By making better products, strengthening industrial chains and further improving the environment for opening up, China can help more businesses find partners, room for innovation and opportunities for growth. These connections are making the economic and trade ties between China and the rest of the world ever stronger

By Ouyang Jie, People’s Daily

The 9th China International Import Expo (CIIE) will be held in Shanghai from Nov. 5 to 10. A total of 162 countries, regions, and international organizations are expected to participate, with the exhibition area exceeding 440,000 square meters for the first time.

China’s Vice Minister of Commerce Yan Dong said this year’s CIIE will seek to become more market-oriented, distinctive, and professional, with three key highlights.

A stronger commitment to openness. The Country Exhibition of the 9th CIIE will bring together 69 countries and international organizations, more than last year. Canada and Sri Lanka will serve as the guest countries of honor, while Moldova, Romania, and three other countries, along with the United Nations Development Programme, will participate for the first time.

At the Business Exhibition of the 9th CIIE, U.S. companies will occupy more than 50,000 square meters of exhibition space, maintaining their top spot for the eighth consecutive year. Their exhibition area has grown by 1,500 square meters from last year. The Hongqiao International Economic Forum, held alongside the expo, will release a report on China’s export capacity development for the first time.

Stronger momentum for innovation. For the first time, more than 300 Fortune Global 500 companies and industry leaders will participate in the expo. Nearly 200 companies and institutions that have participated in every previous edition will return to this year’s expo, while more than 2,000 companies will make their debut.

So far, more than 480 products have been confirmed for their global, Asian, or China debut at the expo, setting a new record.

More opportunities for shared growth. Six international organizations, including the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, will participate in the expo. Government departments and local authorities will work together to organize more than 40 trade delegations and over 600 sub-delegations to the expo to explore business and procurement opportunities.

The Business Exhibition of the 9th CIIE will exceed 370,000 square meters for the first time. A total of 4,142 companies from 148 countries and regions have signed up, the highest number in the expo’s history.

Xiao Lu, deputy Party secretary of the China International Import Expo Bureau, said the exhibition areas for medical equipment, healthcare products, consumer goods, and food and agricultural products have all been expanded. The Asia-Africa Products Zone will also be upgraded, with more space for African exhibitors. Free booth space for companies from least-developed countries will increase by 17 percent.

More than 200 products making their global debut or first appearance at the expo will be showcased. They include a cochlear implant capable of detecting sound from all directions, a prototype 6G terminal and a water treatment system that can soften and remineralize water simultaneously.

For the first time, the expo will feature a global consumer brands showcase.

“Around 100 long-established, high-quality brands with strong consumer recognition have been selected, with a focus on the guest countries of honor and those featured in this year’s ‘Export to China’ theme,” said Xiao.

The CIIE Shanghai Events and Conferences will provide exhibitors and business visitors with an efficient platform for communication and exchange. Nearly 100 events are being planned, including the release of research reports on companies expanding overseas and bulk commodity price indexes.

New platforms and services will also be launched, including a cross-border data compliance platform and a digital credit insurance service on the China (Shanghai) International Trade Single Window, while facilitating the signing of a series of cooperation agreements.

In the first eight months of this year, Shanghai’s imports hit a record 1.87 trillion yuan (about $280 billion), accounting for 12.8 percent of China’s total imports. As host city of the CIIE, Shanghai is exploring new ways to further expand imports.

Lu Shan, vice mayor of Shanghai, said the city is working to speed up quarantine approval for imported goods and facilitate the transition of goods temporarily imported for exhibition into regular imports for domestic market. It is also upgrading the Waigaoqiao, Hongqiao and Huaihai Xintiandi National Import Trade Promotion and Innovation Demonstration Zones.

On the supply-chain front, Shanghai is attracting and developing leading supply-chain companies to strengthen its global sourcing and distribution capabilities.

The city has introduced 18 measures to facilitate customs clearance and set up 123 dedicated customs service desks and channels for the CIIE, enabling exhibits to be inspected and released upon arrival. The number of business negotiation areas has increased to 19, with a total area three times that of the previous edition.

Lu said more exhibitors are shifting from participating in the six-day expo to establishing a long-term presence in China and increasing their investment.

In the first eight months, the actual use of foreign capital in Shanghai reached $11.59 billion, up 6.9 percent year on year. The city is now home to 1,120 regional headquarters of multinational companies and 675 foreign-funded R&D centers.

Leveraging the CIIE, Shanghai is advancing institutional innovation, strengthening financial support and improving business services to foster a world-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based and aligned with international standards.

The city has introduced streamlined inspection procedures for imported consumer goods making their debut in China. Customs clearance time has been reduced from a minimum of seven days to as little as same-day release, helping more than 30,000 new products make their Shanghai debut faster.

Since 2018, Shanghai has attracted more than 1,700 high-profile stores making their debut in China, Asia or worldwide.