Sino German economy and trade: common development and mutual achievements
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Germany, German Federal Chancellor Schultz will pay an official visit to China on November 4. China Germany economic and trade relations have attracted attention from all walks of life.
Economic and trade cooperation is known as the "ballast" of China Germany relations. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties 50 years ago, China and Germany have adhered to open exchanges, seek common development, and constantly deepened economic and trade cooperation based on the principle of mutual benefit and win-win results. They have achieved fruitful results, bringing tangible benefits to enterprises and people of the two countries.
Economic and trade cooperation continues to deepen
China and Germany share broad common interests, broad common opportunities and common responsibilities of major countries. The two countries have formed an all-round, multi-level and wide-ranging economic and trade cooperation pattern.
China and Germany are mutually important trading and investment partners. The bilateral trade volume has increased from less than 300 million US dollars in the whole year at the beginning of the establishment of diplomatic relations to more than 250 billion US dollars in 2021. Germany is China's most important trade partner in Europe, and China has become Germany's largest trade partner for six consecutive years. From January to September this year, the trade volume between China and Germany reached 173.6 billion US dollars, continuing to grow; Germany's actual investment in China increased by 114.3%. Up to now, the two-way investment stock has exceeded 55 billion dollars.
In recent years, German enterprises are seizing the development opportunities of China, the world's second largest economy, continuing to promote investment in China, showing their advantages in the Chinese market and enjoying the dividends of China's development. According to the Business Confidence Survey 2021/2022 previously released by the German Chamber of Commerce of China and KPMG, in 2021, nearly 60% of German enterprises in China will achieve business growth, and more than 70% of the interviewed enterprises will continue to increase their investment in China.
It is worth mentioning that at the beginning of September this year, the first unit of BASF Group's integrated base project in Zhanjiang, Guangdong was put into operation. BASF (Guangdong) Integrated Base Project, with a total investment of about 10 billion euros, is the largest single project invested by German enterprises in China. After the completion of the project, Zhanjiang, Guangdong, will become BASF's third largest integrated production base in the world.
At the same time, Germany is also becoming a hot spot for Chinese enterprises to invest. Ningde Times, Guoxuan Hi Tech, Honeycomb Energy, etc. have successively settled in Germany.
"The close economic ties between China and Germany are the result of the development of globalization and the role of market rules. The complementary advantages of this economy are beneficial to the enterprises and people of the two countries. Both sides have benefited a lot from practical cooperation." At the previous regular conference, Shu Jueting, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce, said that China would unswervingly promote high-level opening up, constantly improve the market-oriented, legalized and internationalized business environment, and create better conditions for expanding economic and trade cooperation with countries including Germany. China is willing to work with Germany to promote mutually beneficial and stable economic and trade relations between the two countries and inject more stability and positive energy into the development of the world economy.
Deeply tap the potential of mutually beneficial cooperation
The industry generally believes that in the future, from tackling climate change to coordinating macroeconomic policies, from actively expanding green environmental protection and service trade to deepening cooperation in new technology fields such as artificial intelligence and digitalization, China and Germany have broad space for mutually beneficial cooperation.
Zhang Jianping, deputy director of the Academic Committee of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, told the International Business Daily that both China and Germany are major manufacturing countries in the world and core countries in the global supply chain system. Germany is a model of steady development of manufacturing industry in developed countries; China is the country with the largest added value of manufacturing industry in the world, and also the only country in the world with all industrial categories in the UN industrial classification. From the perspective of global value chain position, Germany is mainly in the high-end sector, while some Chinese industries are among the middle and high-end sectors in the world, while some industrial sectors are at the middle and low end. The industries of the two countries are highly complementary and have huge potential for cooperation. Especially under the new global development pattern and new trend of development, Germany is facing a severe energy crisis, and its manufacturing industry urgently needs to seek broader international cooperation, which can be strengthened with China in the field of manufacturing.
Yan Shiqiang, associate researcher of the European Research Institute of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, told the International Business Daily that China's "Fourteenth Five Year Plan" proposed to focus on strategic emerging industries, which has many similarities with the ten key high-tech industries proposed in Germany's National Industrial Strategy 2030 issued in 2019. China and Germany are engaged in high-end equipment manufacturing, chemical industry, new energy vehicles, renewable energy, energy conservation and environmental protection Modern service industry and other fields should further tap the potential for cooperation.
Yan Shiqiang further analyzed that in the field of high-end equipment manufacturing, with the development of a new generation of information technology and the arrival of the intelligent era, China and Germany can focus on the future market and deepen cooperation in high-end equipment manufacturing represented by intelligent robots; In the field of new energy vehicles, the new energy and network connected vehicle industry can be the priority direction of Sino German automobile industry cooperation upgrading; In the field of energy conservation and environmental protection, Germany is one of the world's leading countries in environmental protection technology. China and Germany have great potential for cooperation in reducing chemical pollution, sustainable waste management, new energy vehicle battery recycling, etc; In the field of renewable energy, Germany proposes to achieve 80% of renewable energy power generation by 2030, while China, as a leader in the global photovoltaic industry, has supplied more than 70% of photovoltaic modules to the global market, and the cooperation between the two sides is promising; In the field of service industry, the two sides have great potential for cooperation in modern services such as modern finance, vocational education, health care, green logistics, which can accelerate the coordinated development of manufacturing and services, and promote the innovation of business models and formats.
Zhang Jianping also said that Germany actively advocates low-carbon and green development, leads the world in energy-saving equipment technology, and leads the world in the proportion of new energy applications. At present, China's new energy equipment products, energy conservation and emission reduction technology and equipment level are also constantly improving. In the future development process, the two sides have a lot of room for mutual trade and investment, including products and services to meet each other's needs.