On June 22, the fourth China International Supply Chain Promotion Expo opened in Beijing. As the world’s first national-level exhibition dedicated to supply chain themes, this year’s event adopted the theme “connecting the world, co-creating the future” and featured six major chains—Digital and Intelligent Technology Chain, Advanced Manufacturing Chain, Green Agriculture Chain, Healthy Living Chain, Smart Automotive Chain, and Clean Energy Chain—along with a comprehensive supply chain services exhibition area. The expo attracted 676 leading enterprises, specialized and innovative companies, and industry organizations from 85 countries, regions, and international organizations to participate offline, with overseas exhibitors accounting for 36.5% of the total. Over 65% of participants were from Fortune Global 500 companies or global industry leaders. Including upstream and downstream partners brought by exhibitors, the actual number of participants exceeded 1,200. Australia served as the guest country of honor, while relevant regions of France and Italy acted as foreign guest provinces. More than 200 overseas delegations traveled specifically to China for participation, exhibition visits, and business discussions. The event showcased over 160 groundbreaking innovations for the first time.
The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, together with representatives from the global business community attending the event, jointly released the “Beijing Initiative for the Fourth China International Supply Chain Promotion Expo,” reaching consensus on five key dimensions: enhancing the resilience of industrial and supply chains, fostering new advantages for innovative development, accelerating digital and intelligent transformation, promoting green and low-carbon development, and deepening cooperation among global businesses. Against the complex backdrop of intensifying geopolitical competition and the restructuring of global industrial and supply chains, the timely holding of the expo sent a firm signal to the world: regardless of how volatile and intertwined the external environment may become, China remains the “stability anchor” and “source of innovation” for global industrial and supply chains.
China is advancing high-level opening-up with greater intensity to help domestic and foreign enterprises share opportunities and achieve common development. On the very day of the Chain Expo’s opening, China released the “Action Plan for Utilizing Foreign Investment to Consolidate, Stabilize, and Enhance Quality,” proposing 15 measures across five key areas: expanding market access, improving the convenience of foreign investment, enhancing investment promotion capabilities, strengthening the foreign investment service support system, and optimizing foreign investment management. Currently, all restrictive measures in China’s manufacturing sector have been eliminated. The spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs explicitly stated that events such as the China International Import Expo (CIIE), Canton Fair, Chain Expo, China–South Asia Expo, and China–Asia-Europe Expo represent practical steps by China to expand high-level opening-up, adding, “We welcome enterprises from around the world to tap into the potential of China’s vast market, share in the benefits of China’s high-quality development, and transform industrial and supply chains into collaborative and mutually beneficial networks.”
Many participants from various countries noted that China is continuously creating new opportunities for open cooperation in global supply chains. John Denton, Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Commerce, pointed out that China is a leading force in ensuring the stability of global supply chains. China boasts a comprehensive infrastructure system connecting the entire world, continues to expand high-level opening-up, and accelerates the development of a global hub for scientific and technological innovation, providing the world with comprehensive and high-level opportunities in industry, technological innovation, green transformation, and a super-large market. China is the only country with all industrial categories classified by the United Nations, and the 15th Five-Year Plan Outline has made specific arrangements for expanding high-level opening-up. Practice has proven that the true resilience of industrial chains lies in taking the initiative through open cooperation and resisting external shocks through interconnectivity.
The Chain Expo has successfully gathered 676 enterprises from 85 countries, regions, and international organizations as scheduled, a achievement that is by no means accidental but firmly supported by China’s unique institutional advantages.
First and foremost, the organizational advantage of concentrating resources to accomplish major tasks serves as the fundamental guarantee for the efficient operation of the Chain Expo. The socialist system with Chinese characteristics enables breakthroughs beyond administrative boundaries and departmental barriers, enabling the concentration of human, material, and financial resources in key areas. The continuous upgrading of the Chain Expo from its inaugural edition to the fourth edition exemplifies this robust organizational capability—the “friend-seeking” model has been fully upgraded to version 4.0, leveraging the “Feizhan” digital platform to establish 8,892 supply-demand matches even before the exhibition begins. Such cross-departmental and cross-regional systemic collaboration is difficult for many countries to match.
Secondly, the continuous deepening of institutional openness has provided a predictable policy environment for the Chain Expo. China is shifting from factor-flow-oriented openness to a more profound level of institutional openness. This includes the gradual relaxation of access restrictions in the service sector and the conduct of stress tests in free trade pilot zones focusing on areas such as intellectual property protection and labor rights safeguards, transforming high-standard rule commitments into actionable and verifiable provisions. This approach of providing targeted institutional measures to remove obstacles, lower barriers, and enhance expectations for supply chain cooperation has given foreign investors clear policy expectations.
Furthermore, a complete industrial system and a super-large-scale market constitute an industrial foundation that the Chain Expo cannot replicate. China is the only country in the world with all industrial categories covered by the United Nations Industrial Classification. In 2025, the total R&D expenditure exceeded 3.9 trillion yuan, with an R&D investment intensity of 2.8%. Comprehensive supporting capabilities and stable production capacity supply have become the core confidence for global enterprises to deeply engage in China.
Finally, the coherence between legal safeguards and strategic planning provides an institutional shield for the security of industrial and supply chains. In March 2026, the State Council issued the “Provisions on the Security of Industrial and Supply Chains,” marking China’s first regulatory document in the form of an administrative regulation specifically addressing industrial and supply chain security, thereby systematically establishing a governance framework for key sectors. Leveraging its advantages of a super-large market and a comprehensive industrial system, China continues to attract global industrial chains and innovative elements. While the United States attempts to reshape the global supply chain order through tariffs, China offers a “safe haven” and growth opportunities for global capital through institutional openness. This is precisely the fundamental reason why the Chain Expo has become a “globally shared international public good.”