Editor's note: Ahead of the release of China's first-half 2026 economic data, China Daily invited chief executives and senior leaders from key multinational companies to share their perspectives on the world's second-largest economy. Their insights go beyond short-term growth, offering a closer look at the evolving "China Opportunity 2.0" narrative amid ongoing debate over the so-called "China Shock 2.0".
Q1 Many multinational companies in recent years continue to expand their investment and operations in China, suggesting that "China Opportunity 2.0" is increasingly offsetting the "China Shock 2.0" narrative. What developments or evidence best demonstrate that China is creating new opportunities for global businesses rather than posing a "shock"?
PRASANNAN: From Everllence's perspective, China is a key market for green innovation, industrial-chain collaboration and the global delivery of net-zero solutions. Across the industry, China's policy direction, continued opening-up, vast maritime and industrial demand, mature manufacturing base and deepening partnership with licensees and industry players are sending strong positive signals. We have long shared these opportunities with our Chinese partners, and we are advancing a more efficient, lower-carbon and sustainable future. Despite the delayed IMO Net-Zero Framework review and the decline in dual-fuel engine orders, China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) offers rare policy certainty. Joint milestones include CMD's record-setting methanol engine and our 2,000th dual-fuel engine order with COSCO Shipping Lines.
CHENG: The most visible change is that China is no longer simply a market that global companies seek to enter; it is increasingly becoming a source of innovation and global growth. China has millions of the world's most active cross-border sellers. We are seeing Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises move beyond simply selling products overseas to start building businesses across multiple markets. This is creating new demand for global payments, compliance, technology and professional services. For Payoneer, China has also become an important strategic hub for product innovation, service development and ecosystem building. To us, this is what "China Opportunity 2.0" means: China's scale, digital capabilities and increasingly global-minded businesses are not only participating in global markets, but also creating new demand, new business models and new opportunities for growth.
XIA: From my perspective, the most compelling evidence is that China is no longer only a large end-market or manufacturing base. It has become an integrated platform where innovation, infrastructure, talent and industrial ecosystems come together to create opportunities for global companies. For Evonik, this opportunity is very tangible. We see China as a market that encourages companies to become faster, more innovative and sustainability. In the first half, we brought several important projects into operation in China, including a new hydrogen peroxide plant in Leshan, Sichuan province, the expansion of our specialty amine production in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, our first AEM technology center for green hydrogen, and the Asia Beauty Science & Innovation Center in Shanghai. These projects reflect not only our confidence in China's market potential, but also our belief that China will remain an important source of innovation and transformation for global businesses.
YIN: With a full spectrum of application scenarios, China's vast market serves as a natural testbed and incubator for technological innovation. It fosters wide-ranging technical cooperation and industrial chain synergy, enabling multinationals like AkzoNobel to reap mutual benefits through deep-rooted local operations. For AkzoNobel, China stands as both a core innovation hub and a critical engine powering our global growth. Upholding our guiding tenet — "Innovate in China, for China, share globally" — we keep expanding our local R&D footprint in the country to address domestic market needs while benefiting global businesses.
Q2 China's economy has demonstrated strong resilience so far this year, supported by resilient exports, solid industrial production and continued strength in high-tech manufacturing. How would you assess China's overall economic performance so far this year? Looking ahead, what do you see as the key drivers supporting China's growth in the second half?
PRASANNAN: In the first quarter, China led global shipbuilding new orders by deadweight tonnage, with green vessels accounting for 80.2 percent of new contracts. This strength extends to the offshore sector, where we will supply eight compressor trains to support a new floating production storage and offloading vessels for Azule Energy by China's Yantai CIMC Raffles, contributing to their energy efficiency and operational reliability. Our Seaspan Yangtze methanol dual-fuel retrofit, delivered at Shanghai COSCO heavy industry in June, is our 30th global dual-fuel retrofit. Completed in just three months to cut the shipowner's downtime loss to a minimum, it reduces the vessel's EEXI index by 55 percent below the international baseline. For the second half, China's core economic growth drivers will come from full green industrial chain expansion and sustained new quality productive forces momentum.
CHENG: China's economy has shown strong resilience this year, but what stands out to us is the changing quality of that resilience. More Chinese companies are moving up the value chain, from traditional manufacturing and product exports to building global brands and expanding through technology and services. At the same time, emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence, smart hardware, new energy, smart home and wearable technologies are gaining momentum in global markets. Looking ahead, I see three key growth drivers: deeper global expansion by Chinese SMEs and brands; continued industrial upgrading and technological innovation; and further digitalization of trade and business operations.
XIA: China's economy has shown solid resilience in a challenging global environment. What stands out to me is the continued strength of industrial production and high-tech manufacturing. The country's growth model is evolving, and that may bring short-term adjustments. For companies like Evonik, which focus on innovation and sustainability, given the complex external environment, structural opportunities remain clear. Looking at the second half, I would take a cautiously optimistic view. Industrial upgrading and innovation-led growth will remain important drivers. At the same time, we need to be mindful of uncertainties, including geopolitical tensions, supply chain disruptions and still-soft domestic consumption momentum, which may weigh on business confidence and market demand in the short term.
YIN: China's economy has demonstrated remarkable resilience this year, maintaining stable expansion while marching toward high-quality, innovation-driven growth. The policy blueprint laid out for the 15th Five-Year Plan has further bolstered AkzoNobel's confidence in China's long-term market prospects. Looking ahead, we believe two core pillars will underpin China's economic growth in the second half. The first is the new quality productive forces led by advanced manufacturing, green tech and digitalization. On this front, AkzoNobel has contributed advanced coating solutions to landmark projects such as the world's largest integrated hydrogen-ammoniamethanol project. The second lies in the potential of domestic consumption, fueled by increasing requirements for better livelihoods.
Q3 China's innovation ecosystem has become an increasingly important engine of growth. How do you assess the contribution of artificial intelligence and other frontier technologies to China's productivity growth, industrial upgrading and long-term economic resilience? More broadly, what significance does China's innovation have for global technological progress and the opportunities available to multinational companies?
PRASANNAN: AI and other cutting-edge technologies are reshaping China's industrial growth. Digitalization, alongside decarbonization, represent Everllence's two core strategies. Our CEON Cloud Platform, the core of our digital system, collects full operational data in real time to offer end-to-end services like predictive maintenance and dynamic energy efficiency optimization. Integrated with tools including PrimeServ Assist and Asset+, it helps customers achieve quantifiable carbon cuts without heavy hardware investment. CEON TechBot is a dedicated AI assistant for Everllence equipment, delivering fast, reliable guidance to crews in any on-board scenario. Linked to the CEON platform, it helps maintenance teams troubleshoot faster, streamline workflows and ensure 24/7 safe, efficient vessel operations.
CHENG: AI is moving beyond productivity gains and becoming a new operating system for global commerce. At Payoneer, we see AI helping businesses navigate market research, localization, customer acquisition, financial operations and cross-border expansion more efficiently. From our work with SMEs around the world, we see three major shifts. First, AI is lowering the barriers for smaller businesses to participate in global trade. Second, AI-powered hardware and digital services are emerging as new growth engines for Chinese companies expanding internationally. Third, as AI agents become increasingly involved in commercial transactions, the financial sector will also need to rethink how identity, trust and compliance are managed in an AI-driven economy.
XIA: Technologies such as AI, automation and digitalization are already playing important roles in the chemicals industry by helping shorten innovation cycles and support more precise, customized solutions for customers.
More broadly, China offers a unique combination of technological progress, strong market demand, a complete industrial base and fast commercialization capabilities. For multinational companies, this creates valuable opportunities to co-develop solutions with local customers and partners.
Evonik's approach is to combine our global technology platforms with local customer insights and local innovation capabilities. A good example is our innovation fund investment in China, which is designed to strengthen our open innovation network and support technologies in bio-solutions, energy transition and circular economy.
YIN: AI ranks high on China's national strategic agenda, with the nation achieving world-leading progress in AI development. According to the 2025 Global AI Innovation Index Report, China ranks second globally in AI development, holding a notable lead over the third-ranked economy. At AkzoNobel, we closely track AI breakthroughs and have full confidence in China's strengths in AI. Partnerships with innovative Chinese tech players enable us to better adapt to shifting customer needs, speed up the development and commercialization of new technologies, and replicate proven solutions throughout our global footprint. Moving forward, we look forward to deeper cooperation with Chinese AI tech providers to deliver greater value to customers worldwide.
Q4 China has placed greater emphasis on expanding domestic demand while pursuing high-standard opening-up. How do you assess these efforts? What new opportunities do they create for multinational companies and global investors?
PRASANNAN: China's market opportunities are clear: rising dual-fuel newbuild orders, growing retrofit demand, low-carbon heating upgrades and industrial CCUS deployment. Since 2016, our methanol main engines have accumulated over 600,000 operating hours on methanol alone. In 2025, we signed a 10-year licensing agreement with CPGC and CSE, further strengthening our decades-long partnership. We also secured an EOR-based CCUS project, marking our entry into China's CCUS market. Hengli is a highly valued strategic partner. Our market-leading two-stroke portfolio and four-stroke gen-set solutions position us as a comprehensive power and propulsion provider. This year, we've also launched a four-stroke licensing partnership with Hengli and are confident it will achieve the same strong future as our successful two-stroke collaboration.
CHENG: China's continued efforts to expand domestic demand while advancing high-standard opening-up are creating a more stable, transparent and attractive environment for global businesses. We have seen particularly encouraging policy signals in areas such as financial opening, the digital economy and cross-border trade, which are strengthening multinational companies' confidence in making long-term investments in China.
Payoneer is one example of that long-term commitment. As a global financial technology company serving businesses in more than 190 countries and territories, we continue to deepen our presence in China through investment in local research and development, product innovation, compliance capabilities and ecosystem development. For multinational companies, the opportunity in China goes well beyond access to a large market. It is also about building long-term capabilities, responding to fast-evolving customer needs, and growing alongside Chinese businesses as they expand globally.
XIA: A larger and more sophisticated domestic market means that the real opportunity lies in upgrading — consumers and industries are looking for safer, greener, more efficient and higher-performance solutions. High-standard opening-up means predictability, transparency, market access and fair competition, all of which support long-term business confidence. Evonik has been present in China since the 1930s and has participated in China's economic development. In the next stage, we believe opportunities will be strongest in sectors aligned with China's high-quality development priorities: green transformation, circular economy, and low-carbon manufacturing, etc. These are also areas where specialty chemicals can make a meaningful contribution.
YIN: China's steady advancement of high-level opening-up has created a more stable and predictable operating landscape for multinationals. Meanwhile, the continuous expansion of domestic demand serves as a powerful growth engine and source of innovation momentum for foreign businesses. For multinationals like AkzoNobel, our longstanding commitment to the Chinese market underscores a strategic evolution: transitioning from mere investors to dedicated innovation partners now. We will leverage our global technological strengths and local innovation capabilities, continue to ramp up investment in the Chinese market, and collaborate closely with local partners to seize new opportunities stemming from high-quality development.
Q5 Looking ahead to the second half of the year, what will you be watching most closely as indicators of China's economic resilience, reform progress and long-term growth potential?
PRASANNAN: First, the delivery pace of green industry orders: we focus on new contracts for dual fuel engines such as methanol and ammonia engines, and the existing vessel retrofit demand. We previously warned that even if all newbuilds switch to alternative fuels by 2030, 50 gigawatts of existing two-stroke capacity will still need retrofitting by 2050 to hit the IMO Net-Zero Framework target — the current lag in the retrofit market has already created clear risks of capacity shortages.
Second, the commercialization speed of cutting-edge technologies: we track the real deployment performance of digital products — including our CEON TechBot and PrimeServ Assist in local Chinese projects — to verify the rollout pace of industrial digital upgrading.
I am focused on two milestones: China's 15th Five-Year Plan decarbonization policies and the IMO's Net-Zero Framework review later this autumn. Both will shape the future of zero-carbon shipping, and we are ready to seize the opportunities with our Chinese partners.
CHENG: Looking ahead, we will be watching three areas closely. First, the resilience of Chinese companies as they expand into a broader range of global markets. Their ability to diversify, deepen local operations and invest in long-term brand building will be an important indicator of competitiveness.
Second, we will look at how policies supporting financial opening and cross-border trade facilitation are implemented in practice, helping reduce friction for businesses and support more efficient, stable financial infrastructure.
Third, we will look at whether Chinese companies continue progressing from product exports to global operations. This includes building brands, establishing local market presence, managing multi-market financial operations and creating long-term customer relationships. We believe this evolution will be one of the clearest indicators of the quality and sustainability of China's future growth.
XIA: On the macro side, industrial production, exports, domestic consumption, private investment and business confidence will remain important. But I would also look beyond headline numbers. For example, we'll note the performance of high-tech manufacturing, equipment manufacturing, services consumption, green industries and innovation-driven sectors such as new energy vehicles, low-altitude economy, advanced consumer goods and circular economy. These sectors are good indicators that can tell us more about the quality and sustainability of growth. For Evonik, our confidence in China is based on these structural trends. There will always be cycles and uncertainties, but China's direction toward innovation, sustainability and high-quality development is highly consistent with Evonik's strategic focus.
YIN: Market vitality will be one indicator for the underlying economic resilience. When consumption is driven by rising expectations for better livelihoods, it generates lasting momentum across a wide range of sectors including retail, home improvement and digital services. On the other hand, driven by large-scale urban renewal and community renovation, China continues to unlock new market potential.
Momentum in new growth engines will be another key indicator. Investment and innovation in advanced manufacturing, new energy, and AI, etc. will increasingly drive economic development, productivity gains, industrial upgrade, and new forms of consumer and business demand.
