Abstract

With the rapid evolution of the unprecedented major changes in the world，Chinese companies face increased pressure and uncertainty in their overseas development. On one hand，the global economic growth has slowed significantly，the world economy has weak recovery，inflation remains high，financial market risks have increased，and geopolitical conflicts persist，bringing multiple pressures to China’s foreign trade. On the other hand，China persists in promoting high-level opening-up，with strong economic resilience，great potential，and vitality，and still possesses favorable conditions for the development of foreign trade. Faced with increasingly unpredictable international situation，how China’s foreign trade can overcome difficulties，stabilize its foundation，optimize its structure，improve the quality and level of foreign trade，and enhance China’s competitiveness in foreign trade，are important components of stabilizing the overall economic and social situation.The report starts with an overall evaluation of the overseas development of Chinese enterprises in 2022. Secondly，it analyzes Chinese listed enterprises in the 2022 Fortune Global 500，Chinese enterprises in the Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands in 2022 and overseas investment of Chinese listed companies in 2022. Then it conducts researchs on Beijing Free Trade Zone and service trade，Beijing Free Trade Zone and digital trade，RCEP and Beijing’s foreign trade，RCEP and Beijing’s foreign investment，and the high-quality development of Beijing’s cross-border e-commerce. It also carries out in-depth analysis and exploration of Beijing enterprises’ digital trade along the “Belt and Road” and their co-construction of investment along the “Belt and Road”. Finally，case studies are conducted on four typical enterprises of Beijing enterprises’ overseas development in 2022. Overall，this report provides a comparative and systematic analysis and evaluation of the current development status，trends，and policy orientation of Chinese enterprises overseas.The book points out that in 2022，China’s foreign trade reached a new high in scale，and the trade layout，commodity structure，and trade mode were further optimized. Service trade continued to grow，the travel service industry gradually recovered，and digital trade showed good development momen-tum. Foreign direct investment remained stable，with non-financial direct investment showing some growth. The number and revenue of Chinese enterprises included in the “Fortune 500” in 2022 showed a certain degree of growth，while the number of Chinese brand enterprises included in the “Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands” showed a certain degree of decline，and domestic leading brands temporarily encountered setbacks. In terms of overseas investment by Chinese listed companies，the total amount of overseas investment by Chinese listed companies in 2022 continued to grow，and the investment was mainly concentrated in countries（or regions）with obvious geopolitical and complementary advantages；the investment areas were diversified and mainly focused on the metal，equipment manufacturing，and energy and power industries；the investment mode was mainly independent investment，capital increase，and M&A；the regional distribution of investment enterprises showed a characteristic of “more in the east and less in the west”；the investment enterprises mainly came from the manufacturing industry；and the investment enterprises were mainly private enterprises. Beijing Free Trade Zone focuses more on the development of service trade，with labor-intensive services exports and knowledge-intensive and capital-intensive services imports，promoting the high-quality development of Beijing’s digital trade. Since the formal implementation of RCEP，some initial benefits have been achieved in promoting the high-quality development of Beijing’s international trade，which also brings challenges and opportunities for promoting the high-quality development of Beijing’s foreign investment. In 2022，Beijing’s cross-border e-commerce trade was mainly import-oriented，and there was a cluster effect in regional distribution. The continuous introduction of favorable policies，the development opportunities created by RCEP，and the emergence of new models and technologies play a key role in promoting the continuous development of Beijing’s cross-border e-commerce. In addition，Beijing enterprises have advantages in digital trade along the “Belt and Road” in terms of digital economic development，digital infrastructure，enterprise R&D innovation，and policy support system，but they also face challenges such as being restricted by key core technologies in critical areas，fragmented rules of digital trade，increasing concentration of global digital trade，and insufficient synergy in the development of digital trade. Beijing enterprises also face risks and opportunities in investment in countries participating in the co-construction of the “Belt and Road”. Finally，this book systematically reviews and analyzes the internationalization of typical Beijing enterprises such as Century UU，IReader Technology，Beijing Construction Engineering Group，and POWERCHINA，and discusses the key influencing factors. It has important guiding value for Chinese enterprises to explore overseas markets.The book suggests that China needs to continue to promote high-level opening-up，accelerate the development of digital trade，utilize financial and financial support to support foreign trade development，and optimize the development environment for foreign trade. Chinese companies should place their own development consciously within the overall framework of China’s modernization construction，adapt to the new situation and new requirements of deeper development of the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation，rely on the expanding advantages of China’s super-large-scale market，attract global resources and elements with the domestic circulation，enhance the linkage effect between the domestic and international markets and the two types of resources，and constantly enhance global competitiveness. Domestic Chinese brands should continue to strengthen the construction of brand quality and resist various risks through high-quality development. Chinese companies “going global” must continue to pay attention to mature markets，enhance the role of driving engines in the source regions，actively build a new regional economic cooperation pattern with risk control system as the basis，with the leading role of private enterprises，centered on stabilizing and expanding the competitive advantages of the manufacturing industry and with emphasis on key areas and multiple initiatives. Beijing Free Trade Zone should make efforts from the perspectives of policy and enterprise to promote the high-quality development of service trade in Beijing. The development of digital trade in Beijing Free Trade Zone should actively explore the path of digital governance，be the builder of digital trade rules，establish a complete digital ecological system，form a cluster of digital trade industries，and break through international barriers to digital trade created by RCEP. At the same time，Beijing should make good use of the RCEP agreement，leverage its advantages in the digital economy，promote high-quality development of international trade and Beijing’s foreign investment. The development of Beijing’s cross-border e-commerce should fully grasp policy support and opportunities for regional cooperation such as the “Belt and Road” and RCEP，promote the transformation and upgrading of the industry towards high-end，intelligent，and green，strengthen cross-border data risk management and security protection，and promote high-quality and stable growth of Beijing’s cross-border e-commerce industry. The Beijing Municipal Government should guarantee the development of local enterprises in digital trade along the “Belt and Road”，and further promote investment in countries along the “Belt and Road”. ...[unfold]