A1 China became an even stronger manufacturing powerhouse with the boom of foreign investment and exports in the last 24 months. Now the nation is at a critical stage of economic transition, facing multidimensional challenges internally and externally. Hence "stability" is highly emphasized and prioritized for China's economic work for 2022. It is crucial for China to press on domestic consumption, accelerating industrial modernization and decarbonization to further drive economic growth. For foreign companies operating in China, the motto is more than ever "Made in China for the Chinese market".

A2 We expect our strategy and operations consulting business to continue to grow, both in the short and the long term. Although transformation creates uncertainties, it also creates the chance to rethink the existing systems and to turn uncertainty into opportunity. We believe that as management consultants, we have an important role to play in China's future development at the start of fundamental transformation, as we tackle the opportunities around the new business models, value and supply chains, and technologies.

A3 Foreign business in China is faced with a paradox. On the one hand, the Chinese market is in many cases the first or the second largest market for many European or US companies. On the other hand, constraints on technology exchanges, either on one side with the US bans or on the other side with more stringent data exchanges regulation, create some strategic uncertainty that was not there only two years ago. China should continue its reform and opening-up plan, uphold an international rule-based order, particularly emphasizing the role of WTO to be reformed, encourage international collaboration, and further develop its integration into the global economy.

A4 Regulation is not everything. Beyond new technologies, new operations and services models around energy efficiency and energy management, recycling, waste management and valorization, carbon capture and usage, combined with hydrogen, will be needed. It will require policymakers to provide support like the introduction of active short-term policy incentives, formulation of financing and commercialization models, and further development of regulatory systems.

A5 As China's economy is fully entering the "new normal", with its new focus on high-quality development over speed, tighter regulation is to be highly expected. Regulation is indispensable and important for China to create a more standardized and transparent market which supports long-term stability and economic growth. Although policy changes may bring uncertainties, China will remain attractive to our future business, and more importantly, that of our clients.