As China moves up the value chain, it will continuously play an important part in global industrial and supply chains, despite challenges such as geopolitical tensions and talk of reshoring production back to developed countries such as the United States, Burkner said.

The remarks coincided with the UN forecast that India is projected to surpass China as the most populous country this year, which has triggered worries about China's advantages in manufacturing.

But Burkner said: "Chinese companies have become very competitive, not just because of cost, but also because of quality and innovation. We see quite a lot of Chinese companies being top producers of patents and really good products, and we see them all over the world."

He said it is exactly such competitiveness and high-quality development that make the difference.

Burkner said this is an era of re-globalization as companies diversify their supply chains, and the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the importance of not putting all one's eggs in one basket, to prevent natural disasters or other accidents from causing disruption to global industrial chains.

Minister of Industry and Information Technology Jin Zhuanglong said on Monday that China will encourage domestic enterprises to integrate more deeply into global industrial and supply chains, and strengthen the coordination and allocation of resources in key industries, such as semiconductors.