Immelt mentioned four hot issues in China: innovation and entrepreneurship, affordable medical service, clean energy and opening up to the outside world. GE takes all the four issues into consideration. "Nobody else does that," Immelt said.

"The growth of China has been driven by investment and building infrastructure over the past decades," Immelt said. "China's government has been doing a fantastic job in developing the country and maintaining its fast growth."

GE opens healthcare facility in China

GE's industrial Internet ready for take off

Now, some great changes are on the way. China is focusing more on consumption, innovation and reforms in the economy and in SOEs. This will encourage GE to explore new strategies to be successful in the coming years.

In GE's $150 billion revenue, China's share was only $7 billion. Immelt said GE built its businesses over time, step by step. If looking back 10 years ago, GE started from zero, but now it has 18,000 employees and more than 30 factories in China.

"China is now the second biggest economy in the world, and might become the biggest one someday. GE has to be bigger in China's market in the future. I don't set any limits to what we will be able to do in China someday," Immelt said.

The new GE healthcare manufacturing facility, opened Thursday in Tianjin, a port city some 130 km southeast of Beijing, will focus on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and other imaging products.

"As the world's leading technology and infrastructure company, GE will continue to invest in this dynamic market to meet the growing needs for greater access to technology and better healthcare opportunities for the 1.3 billion population in China," Immelt said.

As for "protectionism" and the Sino-US relationship, Immelt said it was important for businesses to always keep investing with a long-term view during such complicated times.

"Personally, I think everybody in the US, and everybody in Washington, understands the relationship with China is incredibly important," he said.