Foreign investors recognize Wuhan's strength

The Optics Valley Square against the backdrop of the night. It is the landmark of the Optics Valley of China in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province. [Photo/Optics Valley of China]

As the dual circulation paradigm unfolded domestically and overseas, inland cities represented by Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province, are embracing new lives with more foreign capital coming in.

Several foreign enterprises, including Amazon, Garrett, and Webasto, have been expanding their investment scales in the city since the beginning of this year.

On June 28, Garrett's second-phase workshops in the East Lake High-tech Development Zone (also known as Optics Valley of China, or OVC) were put into use.

"We conducted field research in Wuhan in 2011 and decided to invest here, which was a successful decision. Now our Wuhan workshops have become a global benchmark," said Olivier Rabiller, Garrett's president and CEO.

According to him, Wuhan is the company's important innovation and manufacturing base, and Garrett will continue strengthening its investment and research in the city.

Aiming to reach 2 trillion yuan ($278.6 billion) in GDP, Wuhan has prioritized foreign investment work in its business promotion plan. In 2019, 12 targeted policies for foreign-funded companies were released to support their long-term development in the city.

Last December, Wuhan government officials traveled to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Yangtze River Delta to promote the city. Honeywell, Faurecia, and other foreign manufacturing giants lauded Wuhan's foreign investment policies and environment.

Yu Feng, Honeywell's president in China, recalled the pandemic outbreak three years ago at the promotion meeting. At the same time, he and his colleagues negotiated about establishing the emerging market headquarters in Wuhan with the government departments. They successfully set up their headquarters at the beginning of 2020, thanks to the support of all levels of local governments.

Wuhan's foreign capital utilization proportion in the manufacturing sector rose by 13.5 percentage points in 2022, and that proportion in the high-tech manufacturing sector surged by 98.58 percent.

Foreign investors nowadays no longer single-mindedly treat China as the "world factory," as it is transforming from a labor-intensive industrial base into an innovation hub with so many cutting-edge technologies in hand.