Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, east China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Aerial shot of DAIKIN research, development center in Suzhou
2. Interior of research, development center
3. Various of office, staff working
4. Exterior of research, development center
5. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Takashi Nishikawa, general manager, DAIKIN Suzhou Research and Development Center:
"China is home to the world's top universities, research institutions and high-tech industries, and has become a leading international technological innovation highland. We will use the new research and development center as a platform to cooperate with many advanced research institutions and bring together the most pioneering technical talents in China to actively promote cooperation between industry, academia and research institutions."

FILE: China - Exact Location and Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
6. Various of researchers working in lab
7. Various of staff working in office, screens showing working process

Guangdong Province, south China - March 9, 2025 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
8. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Jia Yuhui, president, Hitachi Elevator (China) (partially overlaid with shot 9):
"We will continue to firmly invest in China. Artificial intelligence is especially our important development field. This year, we will fully promote the 'smart building business', promote the deep integration of elevator, security, air conditioning, access control, robotics and other systems, and promote the wide application of smart building technology in hospitals, hotels, office buildings and other scenarios."
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9. Machines operating in factory
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FILE: China - Exact Location and Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
10. Machine operating in factory
11. Various of researchers working in lab

Beijing, China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
13. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Wang Pengfei, dean, Peking University HSBC Business School (partially overlaid with shot 14):
"At the beginning of reform and opening up, Chinese enterprises were mainly labor-intensive. Now with the development of the economy, they have gradually moved to the high-end manufacturing industry. The structure of foreign investment has been adjusted accordingly, which I think is a very good and positive change."

FILE: China - Exact Location and Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
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14. Various of production line
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15. Various of equipment in factory

Foreign-funded companies in China are shifting their investment from traditional manufacturing sector to high-tech fields.

China has issued an action plan to stabilize foreign investment in 2025, which revises and expands the catalogue of industries where foreign investment is encouraged, optimizes foreign investment mix, and promotes the high-quality development of China's manufacturing sector with foreign investment.

In an industrial park of Suzhou City of east China's Jiangsu Province, a global research and development center invested by a Japanese company was officially opened last month. With 1 billion yuan (around 137 million U.S. dollars) invested, the research and development center is the third one established by the company in China.

"China is home to the world's top universities, research institutions and high-tech industries, and has become a leading international technological innovation highland. We will use the new research and development center as a platform to cooperate with many advanced research institutions and bring together the most pioneering technical talents in China to actively promote cooperation between industry, academia and research institutions," said Takashi Nishikawa, general manager of the research and development center.

This year, foreign-funded industries in China are showing trends toward being high-end, intelligent, and green, with the field of artificial intelligence becoming the focus.

"We will continue to firmly invest in China. Artificial intelligence is especially our important development field. This year, we will fully promote the 'smart building business', promote the deep integration of elevator, security, air conditioning, access control, robotics and other systems, and promote the wide application of smart building technology in hospitals, hotels, office buildings and other scenarios," said Jia Yuhui, president of Hitachi Elevator (China).

Data showed that in January, high-tech manufacturing accounted for 12.24 billion yuan, or 12.5 percent of the total foreign investment, marking an increase of 0.8 percentage points compared to the entire year of 2024.

"At the beginning of reform and opening up, Chinese enterprises were mainly labor-intensive. Now with the development of the economy, they have gradually moved to the high-end manufacturing industry. The structure of foreign investment has been adjusted accordingly, which I think is a very good and positive change," said Wang Pengfei, dean of Peking University HSBC Business School.