For enterprises worldwide, "China Opportunity 2.0" represents comprehensive innovation-driven empowerment and high-return investment prospects, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Wednesday.

Li stressed the point after he said he had noticed that some have expressed anxiety over China's advances in technology and industrial innovation, even promoting the narrative of a so-called "China Shock 2.0" that frames China's development as a shock to the global economy.

"For global development, 'China Opportunity 2.0' means broader access to advanced technologies and more widely shared development benefits," he said.

The Chinese premier made the remarks at the opening plenary of the 17th Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as the Summer Davos, in northeastern China's coastal city of Dalian.

Highlighting the four characteristics of China's economy, Li said it has demonstrated stability, innovation, vitality and integration with the rest of the world at the beginning of the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030).

Li said innovation-driven development is key to China's long-term economic resilience and steady growth, which have been underpinned by a stable environment and continuous innovation.

He stressed that the country's innovation is earned through years of strengthening its own capabilities and relentless hard work.

The stability of the Chinese economy, Li said, has provided the much-needed certainty and served as an important "safe harbor" in an increasingly uncertain world.

To integrate into the global economy, China has also remained committed to actively expanding opening up, the premier added.

The country has granted zero-tariff treatment to 63 countries, while its imports have ranked second globally for 17 consecutive years. In the first five months of this year, imports rose by 20.5% year on year, significantly outpacing export growth.

During the event, multiple sessions are dedicated to unpacking China's 15th Five-Year Plan and how the roadmap offers growth opportunities for partners worldwide.

From expanding pilot free-trade zones and building the Hainan Free Trade Port, to broadening market access in education, finance, healthcare and other sectors, China is steadily advancing institutional opening-up across rules, regulations, management frameworks and standards.

The numbers underscore that momentum. According to the Ministry of Commerce, the number of foreign-invested enterprises in China hit 533,000 by the end of 2025, marking an average annual increase of 4.5% from the end of 2020, while the country's foreign direct investment stock neared $4 trillion at the same time with an average annual growth rate of 3.6% across the five-year span.

To stabilize and optimize foreign investment utilization, China this week issued a 15-measure action plan, which covers five broad areas: expanding market access, facilitating investment procedures, enhancing investment promotion, strengthening services and guarantees for foreign investment and improving foreign capital management.

For multinational corporations, the 15th Five-Year Plan period is widely seen as a golden window to deepen their presence in the Chinese market and enhance global industrial cooperation.

"China's market is irreplaceable," Wu Chun, the managing partner for China at Boston Consulting Group, a US-headquartered global consultancy, told media on the sidelines of the Davos event.

Wu said multinationals are gaining strong impetus for innovation and expansion from China's vast consumer market, ever-evolving industrial demands and local consumers' readiness to adopt emerging technologies and novel products.

Under the theme "Innovating at Scale," the three-day event is gathering over 1,700 participants from over 90 countries and regions.

In his Wednesday address, Li concluded by calling on global businesses to seize the opportunities China has offered through its own development.