China stays the course on reforms while the US confusion reigns: expert

There is a lot of confusion as to what will happen in terms of China-US trade tensions. But while the US confusion reigns, China stays on course of reforms, according to Pascal Soriot, CEO of AstraZeneca, a UK drugmaker.

"There are a lot of different opinions and confusions as to whether the US's policy would change post mid-term. If Democrats win midterms, they don't all agree that policies will change. So quite frankly, nobody has a clear idea," Soriot commented.

But China will carry on with its own agenda in terms of peace, economic development, and do the right thing, "which will be praised by people in China and around the world," Soriot added.

Chinese officials held talks with multinational CEOs over the weekend to see how else China can open up its markets and improve its business environment.

"China is really opening up further, and that's a priority for the Chinese government since the 19th [CPC] congress. It really changes things dramatically," he said, adding that "in our industry, the case is a good one. We have positive development."

Based on Soriot's words, the quality standards for generics are improved, procedures are implemented to accelerate the approval of new medicines, the innovation is getting to China's patients much faster than before, and Intellectual Property rights are getting better protection.

"For us, we've always said we want to be in China for China. That means we invest in research, in development, in manufacturing, and in commercial distribution," Soriot told CGTN, noting that the ongoing reform proved that investing in China and being consistent in China were the right approach.