The "2022 Autumn Summit - Finding Certainty under Uncertainty" held by the Global Wealth Management Forum (GAMF) was recently held in Beijing. China EU Chamber of Commerce Chairman Woodker said that from which perspective, China is still the best choice for European companies. Compared with other stakeholders, Europe is more dependent on China's openness.
data map Xinhua News Agency release
China-Europe trade exchanges are active and large in scale. Woodk said that about 1.3 billion euros of Chinese goods enter the European market every day, and this momentum continues in the first half of this year after last year. He believes that in the end, China's exports to Europe may reach 1.7 billion euros per day. "Europeans like Chinese products, and China also needs European customers."
European companies are keen on investing in China. On September 6, the German BASF Group held a comprehensive construction and the commissioning ceremony for the first installation in the BASF (Guangdong) integrated base project invested by Zhanjiang, Guangdong. This project, with a total investment of about 10 billion euros, is the largest single project invested by German companies in China. Woodke is working for a long time in BASF , serving as the company's global vice president and chief representative of BASF (China) Co., Ltd.
"We attach great importance to the Chinese market. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, three European automobile companies basically accounted for 50% of the direct investment of European companies in China. During the epidemic, the investment share of the top ten European companies accounted for 75% to 80% of the European investment share in China, or even 85%. "Woodker said.
Since the beginning of this year, reports of foreign-funded enterprises transferring part of their production capacity from China to Southeast Asia and other places have frequently appeared. Woodk said that although European companies' investment in Southeast Asia, Turkey and Eastern Europe is rising, data shows that most European companies' business in China is still under normal circumstances and has not declined - neither moving away nor laying off employees, and staying in China.
In May this year, the report "Carbon Neutrality: European Companies Help China Realize Vision 2060" released by the European Chamber of Commerce in China showed that more than 75% of European Companies in China believe that China can achieve the goals of carbon peak in 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2060. Woodk pointed out that European companies must work with China to combat climate change to ensure that future generations continue to enjoy the blue planet.
On the issue of competition between China and the United States, Woodker quoted research from the German Mechanical Equipment Manufacturing Federation (VDMA) and pointed out that once China and the United States are "decoupled", it will cause huge damage to European companies.
"In the report of the European Chamber of Commerce in China, China's per capita GDP is continuing to rise, currently reaching 25% of Germany. World Bank research also makes scenario simulations of the development prospects of China's economy. Even under the worst scenario assumption, China's per capita GDP will still double in 20 years. Of course, under the ideal situation, China's per capita GDP will also increase significantly." Woodk said.
This summit is based on the background of the global turbulence since the beginning of this year, the frequent occurrence of black swan events in , geopolitical conflicts, the continued COVID-19 epidemic, and the interweaving of many uncertain factors. It invites heads of government departments and international organizations, leaders of Chinese and foreign financial industry, experts and scholars to express their opinions on hot topics such as national economy and people's livelihood, macroeconomics, fiscal and monetary policy, and financial market supervision.
(Original title: Woodke, President of the European Chamber of Commerce of China: China is still the best choice for European companies)
Source: Beijing Daily Client | Reporter Bai Bo
Process Editor: TF060
