Masami Miyashita, general manager of the Beijing office of the Japan-China Economic Association. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] 

The fifth Qingdao Multinationals Summit was held from Aug 27 to 29 in Qingdao, Shandong province. Masami Miyashita, general manager of the Beijing office of the Japan-China Economic Association, shared insights with China Daily into the changing trends of Japanese companies' investments in the Chinese market.

He noted that the uniqueness of China's consumer market lies in its approximately 400 million-strong middle-income consumer class, a scale unmatched by any other country in the world. In the context of China's economic transformation and upgrading towards high-quality development, Japanese companies are also adjusting their structures to adapt to changes in the Chinese market.

Regarding Shandong, Miyashita highlighted that the province has implemented many innovative measures to drive economic development while continuously deepening reforms.

He believes that Shandong has a clear understanding of its strengths in industrial development and is focused on promoting these key sectors and related industries.

For example, the province is home to large household appliance companies such as Haier and Hisense. As a result, the province's industrial policies are also concentrated on the household appliance sector and related fields, such as virtual reality and panel manufacturing. He also learned at the summit that Qingdao plans to focus its policies on marine-related businesses, leveraging its status as a coastal city to boost the marine industry.

"Shandong has many excellent port resources. Qingdao Port's container throughput currently ranks fourth in the world, surpassing the combined throughput of all Japanese ports," he said, adding that with such efficient port resources, Shandong has the potential become an important logistics hub.

As a first-time participant in the QMS, Miyashita recognized the summit's crucial role in promoting Sino-Japanese economic and trade exchanges.