Editor's Note: As China launches its 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), policymakers are strengthening coordination between the "Export to China" and "Shopping in China" campaigns. The effort signals a clear commitment to expanding imports while promoting high-quality consumption. To explore what this means for global business, we invited executives from multinational corporations to share their perspectives on the opportunities in China's vast market, the role of their China operations in global strategy, and their outlook for the years ahead.

Q1 China's GDP grew 5 percent in 2025, reaching 140.19 trillion yuan ($20.29 trillion). For 2026, the government targets growth of between 4.5 percent and 5 percent, with a planned deficit ratio of around 4 percent. How do you assess the credibility and policies backing this target? Amid moderating global demand, what does China's relative growth certainty mean for your company's global capital allocation, earnings outlook and investor expectations? Does the combination of proactive fiscal policies and accommodative monetary measures reinforce your confidence in sustaining or expanding operations in China?

FANG: China's 2026 GDP growth targets and policy intensity offer crucial support for economic development. Within the global mobile communications sector, China stands at the forefront in terms of 5G deployment and operational scale. Combined with the certainty of future economic growth, policy backing and the profound impact of artificial intelligence, 5G-Advanced is accelerating toward "on-demand customization". This shift is opening up opportunities for differentiated connectivity solutions that Ericsson is actively advancing.

MA: China's 2026 growth target balances stability with reform — sending a clear signal of policy confidence. For the auto industry, a stable macro environment underpins consumer confidence and reinforces Nissan's long-term commitment to China. China remains the world's largest auto market. In 2025, vehicle sales and production reached over 34 million units — both record highs, marking the 17th consecutive year China has led globally. Nissan China is back on a growth track. In 2025, our China sales reached 653,000 units, with a 4.5 percent year-on-year increase in the second half. This momentum reflects our tailored NEV and intelligent models for Chinese customers. We'll drive high-quality growth through products, exports and brand enhancement. By summer of 2027, five more NEV models will be launched in China with more under study.

CHEN: China remains a key engine of global growth. Amid global uncertainty, continued policy support helps anchor market confidence. The China Securities Regulatory Commission recently highlighted that the appeal of Chinese assets has grown significantly, as demand for diversified global allocation rises. At Singapore Exchange, we continue to see strong interest among global investors seeking exposure to China and Asia via international markets. We will stay focused on facilitating cross-border investment and two-way opening-up, deepening collaboration with Chinese regulators on cross-market regulation and risk prevention. SGX will also continue to play a role in connecting global capital with Asian opportunities through initiatives such as China-Singapore ETF links and joint index development, along with active innovation that strengthens market connectivity.

WANG: China's steady economic growth provides a positive outlook for global companies. With its large market, evolving consumption patterns, and dynamic innovation ecosystem, China continues to offer a favorable environment for the development of the digital economy and creative industries. For Canva, the importance of the Chinese market lies in its vibrant community of creators and small and medium-sized businesses, as well as its rapidly developing AI and digital content ecosystem. As demand for digital content continues to grow among both businesses and individuals, Canva will continue to advance product localization and AI capabilities to help more users create and communicate their ideas more efficiently.

Q2 In 2025, China's exports rose 6.1 percent, newly established foreign-invested enterprises increased by 19.1 percent, and research and development intensity reached 2.8 percent of GDP. Against the backdrop of global supply chain reconfiguration, is China's role in your global strategy expanding? How do you evaluate China's integrated advantages — manufacturing depth, innovation capacity, infrastructure and market scale — in supporting your production networks and supply resilience? Does China function primarily as a market, a production base, an innovation hub or increasingly all three within your corporate architecture?

FANG: A diversified and stable supply chain is of critical importance. Ericsson consistently prioritizes supply chain resilience, mitigating market volatility through its global footprint, in which the Chinese market and supply chain system serve as a crucial component. Ericsson highly values China's comprehensive strengths in manufacturing capabilities, innovation density and market scale. Looking forward, Ericsson will continue to advance the implementation of new technologies and products in China, providing comprehensive support to communication service providers in unleashing the commercial value of mobile communication networks.

MA: China is not only the world's largest auto market, but also an innovation engine for industry transformation. Its speed, technology leadership and consumer insights are setting global benchmarks, making it a key pillar of Nissan's "Re: Nissan" transformation — driving innovation and connecting the world.

The key for us is the depth and breadth of our local partnerships. China's rapidly growing automotive industry — with its deep talent pool, strong innovation drive and rich resources — provides an ideal environment for our localized R&D. Our partners respond with speed and collaboration, whether in co-development or supply chain integration. Meanwhile, Nissan's China Parts Export operations collaborate closely and grow together with over 500 local suppliers through strategic partnerships, supplying innovative and competitive products from China to our global business needs.

CHEN: China plays an important role in global digital innovation, and technological advancement increasingly benefits from cross-border collaboration and international capital. Technology is central to China's capital markets through measures such as optimizing the ChiNext framework. China is working to better support leading technology firms. We also recognize that sustained innovation depends on patient, long-term capital. With the support of regulators in both China and Singapore, we welcome high-quality Chinese listed companies to pursue secondary listings on SGX. This can broaden their access to international capital and provide additional financing channels to support regional growth and expansion.

WANG: Against the backdrop of ongoing global supply chain adjustments, China plays an increasingly important role in Canva's global strategy. China is not only a key market, but also home to a highly concentrated pool of talent and a vibrant innovation ecosystem, particularly in artificial intelligence and digital technologies. Canva has long invested in AI research and talent, with dedicated AI teams and capabilities embedded across our creative design platform. Looking ahead, we hope to leverage China's strong talent base by attracting more outstanding engineers and AI specialists to collaborate with our global teams. Together, we aim to advance AI-powered creativity and contribute to Canva's global growth with more innovation coming from China.

Q3 China is advancing the unified national market, with an urbanization rate of 67.9 percent and total retail sales surpassing 50 trillion yuan. As domestic demand expands, what structural opportunities does this vast, increasingly integrated market present for your portfolio, distribution channels and localization strategy? Does deeper market unification reduce operational fragmentation and compliance costs? How do you position your brand and product mix to capture demand from both top-tier cities and fast-growing lower-tier markets?

FANG: The development of a unified large market and the advancement of urbanization are expected to further stimulate society-wide demand for high quality 5G connectivity. From personal information consumption upgrades to digital transformation of industries, continued investment by CSPs in network expansion, upgrading and optimization remains fundamental. This also presents more opportunities for Ericsson to deepen its collaboration with CSPs. By leveraging differentiated and intelligent connectivity solutions, Ericsson will continue to support CSPs in addressing diverse connectivity demands, exploring new business models and elevating personalized network experiences for consumers.

MA: Nissan welcomes and actively supports the development of a unified national market, aiming to foster greater synergy with the government and industry partners. China's vast market and expanding domestic demand are unlocking opportunities for the auto industry. For Nissan, this goes beyond sales — it's about market maturation, efficiency improvement and stronger investment confidence. A market of this scale drives standardization and healthy competition, fostering mature players and quality solutions, while enabling greater distribution efficiency and profitability. Meanwhile, a more integrated national market is shaping similar consumer behavior accelerated by urbanization and convenience. This allows us to better anticipate needs, achieve economies of scale and reach more consumers with precision. This foundation gives us the confidence to deepen our full-chain local presence.

CHEN: China's expanding domestic market and the development of a more unified national market are creating new opportunities for investors and companies seeking to participate in China's economic and consumption growth. Through our multi-asset strategy, Singapore Exchange offers a one-stop marketplace across equities, fixed income, foreign exchange and commodities — helping global investors directly or indirectly access opportunities across Asia while strengthening risk management. We acknowledge China's efforts to build a more integrated, efficient market, and we look forward to deeper China-Singapore cooperation and further innovation in capital-market connectivity that supports long-term, mutually beneficial growth.

WANG: As China continues to advance the development of a unified national market and unlock greater consumption potential, demand for digital content creation and brand expression is growing among both businesses and individuals. For Canva, this creates new opportunities in product development, localization and user growth. We will continue to optimize the product experience and expand the application of Canva AI to support design generation and creative efficiency. Through our online platform and creator ecosystem, we aim to reach more small and medium-sized businesses and creators, while working with local creator communities to further support the development of the creative ecosystem in China.

Q4 China's trade-in program generated over 2.6 trillion yuan in sales in 2025, alongside the "Shopping in China" and "Export to China" initiatives. China's exports grew 6.1 percent year-on-year. How is your company aligning its China strategy to capture both domestic consumption upgrades and export-oriented opportunities? Do you see China increasingly as a global production and innovation base serving international markets? How are you balancing local demand expansion with China's role in your global export ecosystem?

FANG: On the one hand, we are firmly rooted in the Chinese market, working closely with local CSPs and industry partners to advance network infrastructure and support the upgrading of information consumption through our globally leading differentiated connectivity technologies. On the other hand, we are also bringing innovations and successful practices developed in China to global markets, contributing to 5G deployment and operations worldwide.

MA: Nissan has redefined its market strategy and product offerings to better align with local customer needs across different regions.

China's vast market and accelerating consumption upgrade are driving innovation at Nissan. We stay deeply customer-centric, listening closely to Chinese consumers, who are among the first to experience and validate our intelligent and new energy vehicles developed in China. This virtuous cycle of scale and real-world feedback enables us to continuously refine and strengthen our product lineup.

Now, these market-proven models are powering our global expansion. In September last year, we became the first foreign automaker to establish a wholly owned import-export joint venture in the Greater Bay Area. This quarter, the first batch of locally developed and produced vehicles will begin shipping overseas.

This marks Nissan's true realization of "in China, for China, to Global". Powered by China's smart manufacturing and supply chain, Chinese innovation is becoming a key pillar of Nissan's global competitiveness.

CHEN: China's strong domestic demand and role in global trade continue to create opportunities for companies and investors.

As outlined in the 15th Five-Year Plan framework, China is advancing a long-term agenda to accelerate RMB internationalization, including prioritizing capital account opening and strengthening cross-border payment infrastructure.

In line with this important direction, we will continue to expand the listing of offshore RMB bonds and grow RMB-denominated commodity derivatives.

As a pricing and settlement hub for RMB assets, SGX can play a key role in connecting China with Southeast Asia and global markets, and support real-economy trade and investment.

WANG: Against the backdrop of China's consumption upgrade and the growing trend of Chinese companies expanding globally, the importance of brand expression and digital content is rising.

Canva empowers businesses with AI-powered design tools that enable teams to quickly create marketing content for multiple languages and markets, lowering the barrier to professional design while improving communication efficiency.

By supporting cross-team collaboration and localized content creation, Canva aims to help more Chinese companies connect with global audiences and build clear, competitive brands in international markets.

Q5 China last year reduced energy intensity by 5.1 percent, raised the nonfossil energy share to 21.7 percent, and expanded new-type energy storage capacity beyond 130 gigawatts. Artificial intelligence and advanced technologies remain at the forefront globally. Where do you see the strongest partnership potential in China's green transition and AI-driven industrial upgrading? Are you expanding investment in renewables, digitalization, smart manufacturing, or carbon management solutions? How central is China to your global sustainability roadmap and next-generation technology deployment?

FANG: Ericsson aims to deepen cooperation with China in areas such as energy-efficient 5G networks, AI-driven autonomous networks and smart manufacturing. We help CSPs reduce carbon emissions and enhance efficiency through low-energy solutions, unlock new 5G commercial value through differentiated connectivity and enhance consumer network experiences — while our Nanjing, Jiangsu province factory has already achieved leading smart manufacturing capabilities.

MA: China's leadership in green transition and AI opens significant opportunities for Nissan to deepen local collaboration. We support the national vision of "intelligent, green and integrated" auto industry development — an approach that aligns with market trends and Nissan's global sustainability roadmap.

At the policy research level, Nissan (China) has supported NEV and low-carbon bluebooks for 12 consecutive years, contributing insights to the industry's green transition. Meanwhile, our vehicle-to-grid technology turns EVs into mobile power sources — lowering electricity costs and supporting a cleaner, more stable grid.

On the technology front, we're integrating into China's vibrant tech ecosystem — partnering with Huawei, Momenta and others to bring advanced intelligent experience into Nissan vehicles. We are also actively exploring deeper collaboration with Chinese AI companies in R&D and manufacturing.

In addition, we also collaborate with top think tanks and universities to study consumer trends — sharpening local insights and investment confidence, while contributing China's experiences to Nissan's global sustainability journey.

CHEN: Green transition is a key factor in global economic development. Singapore Exchange supports this transition by connecting global capital with companies advancing sustainability and next-generation technologies. In parallel, we are investing in digital capabilities such as data analytics and AI to strengthen market infrastructure, transparency and risk management. We believe deeper collaboration in sustainability can create shared value for the region and the world. We also value dialogue with China's exchanges and look forward to exchanging perspectives and learning from each other as sustainable finance and market innovation evolve.

WANG: Amid the global transition toward greener and more digital ways of working, AI is helping organizations create and communicate more efficiently and sustainably. Through AI-powered design generation, intelligent editing and online collaboration capabilities, Canva enables businesses and creators to produce visual content more efficiently, reducing time and resource consumption in traditional design workflows. Looking ahead, we hope to deepen collaboration with China's vibrant ecosystem of creators and businesses to further explore the potential of AI-driven creative tools in supporting digital and sustainable innovation.