With COVID-19 rampant across the globe, China has launched a dual circulation development approach in which domestic and foreign markets can boost each other, with the domestic market as the mainstay. Characterised by openness, dual circulation is a long-term strategy for China. According to Wang Xiaolu, two prerequisites must be met to enable this new development pattern: First, China must remain open to the world, getting involved in the international division of labor and specialization and continuing to boost international trade and economic cooperation; second, Chinamust rely on domestic demand to achieve economic growth.

Bai Chongen shared insights on the opportunities and challenges dual circulation development will bring to multinational corporations, by analyzing China’s domestic consumer market and higher-level opening-up. First and foremost, creating a unified domestic market will enhance the consistency of market standards and regulations and reduce regional policy divergences. In addition, as China’s economy is still growing rapidly, so too will domestic consumer demand. Changes in the domestic consumption structure will bring more opportunities to multinational corporations. For instance, improvements in people's living standards will lead to higher requirements for consumer goods and service quality, and increasing demand for culture, sports, entertainment and similar forms of consumption. The fast-growing consumption demands of younger generations, especially young people in smaller cities and below, will expand the market multinationals can serve. The "silver economy" will see rising demand among the elderly population for goods and medical and health services. Increasing urbanization will also release more consumption potential.

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