South Korean CJ Group confident about China's investment environment

South Korean conglomerate CJ Group maintains a positive outlook on the Chinese market, citing steady profit growth in 2023 as evidence of its successful operations.

Yoon Doson, Vice President of CJ Group and CEO of CJ China, said the group, which has invested over 8.5 billion yuan (about 1.2 billion US dollars) in Shandong over the last 30 years, values and appreciates the growth opportunities and favorable conditions that the Chinese market offers to foreign enterprises.

"First, the stability of China's economic growth and the potential of its vast market are our primary considerations. Second, from a geographical perspective, Shandong Province is located in central China, which provides great convenience in terms of logistics. Third, many foreign enterprises not only target China's domestic market but also use China as an export base. So, Shandong Province can not only meet domestic demand but also serve as a future export hub for our company. Therefore, I believe that Shandong Province has tremendous growth potential, and our company will continue to thrive here," he said.

Yoon said the broad range of reforms to attract more foreign investment adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Communist Party of China Central Committee in July would have a positive impact on business opportunities for foreign investors.

"The Chinese government's ongoing commitment to openness, particularly in easing market access and optimizing the environment for foreign investment, has created more opportunities for foreign enterprises. While some companies may have concerns about the business environment in China, given the unstable international situation, we believe opportunities far outweigh the risks. By closely monitoring the trends and characteristics of China's economic changes, we are confident that we will find even greater room for growth. We are full of confidence in our future development in China," he said.

Yoon said he will attend the 5th Qingdao Multinational Summit scheduled for August 27 to 29 in Qingdao City of east China's Shandong Province, a region long recognized as a key hub for South Korean investment due to its geographical proximity to the country.

South Korean CJ Group confident about China's investment environment

China's domestically developed C919 large passenger aircraft began flight transport service on two new routes on Sunday.

At 11:19 on Sunday, a C919 aircraft smoothly landed at the Shenyang Taoxian International Airport in Shenyang City, the capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, from Shanghai in east China some 1,000 kilometers away, marking the C919's first commercial flight in northeast China. The airport celebrated the occasion with a water salute.

"The seats are very spacious, and the flight experience is excellent," said a passenger.

"Flying on a homegrown plane feels especially smooth. I took the inaugural C919 flight to Chengdu, and unexpectedly, within a year, more than a dozen routes have been launched. I think the airline operations in our country are particularly impressive," said another passenger.

The other new air route opened on the day for the C919 is the one from northwest China's Xi'an City to south China's Guangzhou City about 1,400 kilometers away.

The Xi'an-Guangzhou service became the third domestic air route operated from Xi'an to use the C919, following China Eastern Airlines' earlier introduction of this aircraft on its Xi'an-Beijing and Xi'an-Shanghai routes. This also means that the Xianyang International Airport in Xi'an has become a major airport in China in terms of flights performed by the C919.

Notably, China Eastern Airlines in January 2025 started using the C919 jetliner for regular flights between Shanghai in east China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in the country's south -- which is the airline's first scheduled commercial flight service to Hong Kong using the C919.

The C919 is a narrow-body passenger aircraft with a maximum capacity of 192 seats. It is China's first self-developed trunk jetliner, built in accordance with international airworthiness standards and featuring independently registered intellectual property rights.

China initiated the C919 project in 2007, and it was developed by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (COMAC). The first C919 aircraft rolled off the production line in Shanghai in November 2015.

China's homegrown C919 aircraft begins to serve two new domestic air routes