In recent days, in order to cooperate with the convening of the Group of Seven summit and the NATO summit, some countries have clamored to deal with China at the political and diplomatic levels, and to "decouple" from China at the economic level. Even their consistent stance on China Germany, which is cautious, seems to have changed its attitude and has repeatedly hyped Xinjiang-related issues.
However, Herbert Diess, CEO of German car giant Volkswagen , warned the German government not to ignore China's contribution to the German economy.
Diss said in an interview with German media that the Chinese market is crucial to the prosperity and stability of the German economy. If there is "economic decoupling" from China, Germany's future will be completely different from the present, in many aspects such as economic development and labor employment. will be greatly impacted.
The prices of many commodities in Germany will rise significantly, and Germany's inflation problem will become more severe, eventually leading to economic collapse.
As the CEO of Volkswagen, Diess’s first consideration is the impact of Sino-German relations on Volkswagen’s business in the Chinese market. In recent years, Volkswagen has suffered from "China market dependence." According to its official data, Volkswagen sold more than 2.4 million vehicles in China in 2021. Although it fell 14.8% year-on-year, Volkswagen's dependence on the Chinese market has further increased. .
Diess said that Volkswagen's sales growth in other single markets is very limited, and the space for future development is relatively small. However, the Chinese market still has huge growth potential, especially after the rise of new energy vehicles, Volkswagen's opportunities in the Chinese market Much.
Dis said that in the future, Volkswagen will focus on the Chinese market and further expand its product line to meet the needs of Chinese consumers. In fact, not only Volkswagen, but other German car brands such as BMW , Mercedes-Benz , Audi and Porsche are also very dependent on the Chinese market.
According to statistics, in 2021, the sales of the three major German luxury car brands, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi, have exceeded 700,000 units in the Chinese market. Among them, BMW's sales have exceeded 800,000 units, accounting for 37.7% of its total global sales. . Another statistics shows that the entire German car brand's dependence on the Chinese market has reached 37.2%.
For any automobile manufacturer, the higher the dependence on a single market, the greater the performance risk it will bear. German automobile brands naturally understand that, but in a short period of time, they will not be able to reduce their dependence on the market. The Chinese market relies on .
As a practitioner in the automobile industry, Diess believes that the Chinese market is crucial to the German economy. His logic is based on the fact that the automobile industry is the pillar industry of the German economy. German cars have always been Germany's business card, synonymous with Germany's high-end manufacturing industry, and have also made huge contributions to Germany's economic development.
According to data released by the German Statistics Department, the output value of the automobile industry accounts for nearly one-third of Germany's GDP total value. In Germany, there are approximately 940,000 laborers directly or indirectly engaged in the automobile industry. Through the automobile industry, many industries can be connected, so in Germany's economic and industrial structure, the automobile industry is irreplaceable.
The new German government’s economic strategy toward China requires some German auto companies to move their manufacturing plants in Xinjiang, China, to other countries, and at the same time reduce the purchase of Chinese auto parts. This move will undoubtedly affect German auto companies in China. Market business .
In addition, recently, the German government’s economic department has been refusing to provide investment guarantees for relevant companies in the country (according to German media reports, it is Volkswagen) to expand their business in China. This has also led to unilateral obstacles for some German companies to invest in China. , but Diess insisted in an interview that Volkswagen would continue to invest in building factories in Xinjiang, China.
Of course, the economic and trade exchanges between China and Germany include not only cars, but also other goods and services. In 2021, the bilateral trade volume between China and Germany reached 245.4 billion euros, a year-on-year increase of 15.1%. China has maintained its position as Germany's largest trading partner for six consecutive years.From the perspective of export and import market segments, China is Germany's second largest export destination, after the United States. This reflects the dependence of German goods and services on the Chinese market.
At the same time, China is Germany's most important source of commodity imports. German media said that high-quality and low-priced Chinese goods are very popular among German consumers, and Chinese goods are very important to maintaining price stability in Germany.
Since the beginning of this year, due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic and the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, prices have skyrocketed in many countries in the United States and Europe, and inflation has intensified. Previously, the U.S. government also planned to revoke the additional tariffs imposed on Chinese goods to allow Chinese manufacturing to enter the U.S. market more conveniently and quickly. To alleviate the soaring prices in the United States.
As Diess said, if the German government engages in "decoupling from the Chinese economy", Germany's inflation will further intensify.
The economies of China and Germany are highly complementary. Maintaining healthy and stable economic and trade exchanges is in line with the common interests of China and Germany and is also the aspiration of the people and businesses of the two countries. In the context of economic globalization, "economic decoupling" seems to be incompatible with the development concept of the times, and will not gain any benefits.
