Those willing to innovate, cooperate and compete always see opportunity in change: China Daily editorial

If "China Opportunity 1.0" was built on labor, market and resources, "China Opportunity 2.0" offers global businesses access to something that is harder to replicate: the ability to transform and scale scientific breakthroughs into commercial success at exceptional speed.

The transformation is increasingly visible as China enters the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period. While geopolitical tensions continue to unsettle global markets, China's economy has displayed an unusual combination of stability, vitality, innovation and openness.

A major driver of the country's vitality and innovation is its robust private sector. At a conference in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, on Tuesday, the National Development and Reform Commission pledged to further optimize the market environment, improve financing mechanisms and strengthen private investment services to enhance market confidence. With private investment now at a critical stage of structural upgrading, capital is increasingly flowing into high-tech industries and new infrastructure.

Also on Tuesday, the central authorities issued guidelines to advance the development of the industrial internet. The targets for 2030 include 50,000 industrial 5G networks, five globally influential platforms, full coverage of 207 industrial subsectors and core industry upgrading. The guidelines outline 18 tasks across infrastructure, innovation, applications, security and industry ecosystems.

Backed by such visionary and targeted policies, as well as a full-fledged industrial system and enormous market, China can turn prototypes into mass-produced goods in months, or even weeks, not years. This rapid industrialization of innovation has become China's signature comparative advantage.

This also explains why more multinationals are building R&D centers and innovation hubs in the country to stay globally competitive. As some observers have said, the challenge faced by Volkswagen now is not whether it should leave China, but how to integrate into the country's innovation system and turn its experience in the Chinese market into production support for its German plants. Across pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, AI and consumer tech, the move from "Made in China" to "Created in China" grows ever more visible.

When China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, many domestic companies greeted the coming of foreign competition with apprehension. But exposure to global markets proved to be a powerful catalyst for innovation, competitiveness and industrial upgrading. What initially looked like a shock to some evolved into one of China's greatest development opportunities. The same lesson applies today. Those warning of a "China Shock 2.0" see disruption; those willing to adapt may instead discover "China Opportunity 2.0".

Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao's intensive engagements across Europe this week aptly exemplify this strategic shift — one designed to enable trading partners to better benefit from China's opportunities while settling differences through consultation.

In Brussels, China and the European Union established a trade and investment consultation mechanism covering their trade balance, export controls, intellectual property protection and WTO reform while identifying AI, the green transition and services as new engines of cooperation. The emphasis was clear: pursue more balanced trade by expanding opportunities rather than restricting commerce.

The same pragmatism shaped Wang's discussions with his German counterpart in Brussels, where both sides agreed to revive institutional economic dialogue and deepen industrial cooperation based on reciprocity, openness and predictability.

In London, the jointly organized "Export to China" initiative brought together dozens of Chinese companies and more than 100 British companies across sectors including life sciences, energy, advanced manufacturing and the automotive industry. The United Kingdom is also expected to accelerate discussions with China on a bilateral services trade agreement, reflecting the growing role of services in the next stage of bilateral cooperation.

China's services trade reached 3.1 trillion yuan ($456.6 billion) in the first five months of 2026, a 6 percent increase from a year earlier. The steady expansion reflects a broader structural shift that has accompanied the rise of many innovation-driven economies, where services increasingly become both a catalyst for technological progress and a growing source of economic dynamism.

None of the economies' engagements with China eliminate competition. But competition should not necessarily lead to rivalry. The world's major challenges — from AI governance to clean energy and advanced health care — require deeper collaboration and managed competition across innovation networks.

"China Opportunity 2.0" reflects the growing role of the world's second-largest economy as an innovation powerhouse. The more consequential question is whether certain economies are prepared to shed their pride and prejudice and embrace this transformation.