A busy day at a Walmart store in Shanghai could be duplicated elsewhere. The retail giant plans to expand in second- and third-tier Chinese cities. (January file photo) Zhang Heping / China Daily

Multinationals to increase investment over the next five years, reports Wang Xing in Beijing.

Shortly after Rio Tinto's China executive Stern Hu was arrested in July 2009 in Shanghai and charged with bribery and stealing business secrets, Ian Bauert got a midnight telephone call at his Australian home. "Hi, Ian," his boss said. "Can you go to China again?"

Bauert was soon on a flight to China. He had started the Anglo-Australian mining giant's first office in Beijing in 1983 and was now taking on the challenge of mending ties between Rio and its biggest customer, China.

Rio has achieved that goal. Sales in China reached 28 percent of its total revenue of $60 billion in 2010, and Rio also bought $400 million in products from China.

Bauert, who recently turned 60, said he believes his zodiac year - the Year of the Rabbit - could be exciting for him and his company because China is now more than just a buyer, it is a provider of a more diversified array of opportunities.

His feeling about China's opportunities and challenges are echoed by 69 multinational executives in a survey conducted in February.

Bullish outlook

The first China Daily Multinational Executive Survey sought their views about the prospects of China in the coming five years, the period of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015). The participants were from a wide scope of industries, from automobiles to healthcare, from technology to financial services.

And 94.2 percent of those executives said they are optimistic or slightly optimistic about their business outlook in China. The rest said they are pessimistic or slightly pessimistic.

More than 90 percent of the multinationals plan to increase their investment in China in the next five years - 27.5 percent by more than half.

"China is always an important market. We noticed that in the 12th Five-Year Plan draft, the government plans to encourage domestic consumption. We believe that will provide a great opportunity for retailers like us," said Ed Chan, president and chief executive of Wal-Mart China, who participated in the survey.

He said the world's biggest retailer plans to accelerate its expansion in second- and third-tier Chinese cities in the next five years to tap increasing demand.

In the government report delivered Saturday to the National People's Congress, Premier Wen Jiabao said China is aiming at economic growth averaging 7 percent for each of the coming five years. This follows an average annual growth rate of 11.2 percent in the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-2010).

China's GDP stood at 39.8 trillion yuan last year ($6 trillion), overtaking Japan to become the world's second largest after the United States. Wen said the country's economy is likely to grow to 55.8 trillion yuan in 2015 based on 7 percent average annual growth.

In the China Daily survey, many executives were more bullish. Forty of the 69 company officials said the Chinese economy could grow at an annual rate of 8 percent for five to 10 years, while 17 executives said the momentum could last as long as two decades.

Only five of the 69 said the growth rate could last less than five years. Five respondents declined to answer.

"With the rapid growth of its auto and transportation industries, China has become one of the most important markets for us," said Yves Chapot, president of Michelin Group in China and a survey participant. He said the company is full of confidence in the ability of China to move its growth pattern toward domestic consumption.