On the 21st, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce released a message: 32 South Korean auto parts companies in Shandong Province will resume work before February 15.
This has greatly relieved global auto companies. Previously, some foreign companies had production difficulties due to a temporary shortage of parts and components produced in China.
As Chinese President Xi Jinping pointed out during a telephone conversation with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on the 20th, the impact of the epidemic on China-ROK economic and trade cooperation and personnel exchanges was temporary. Now, not only Korean-funded enterprises, but also other foreign-funded enterprises have resumed work and resumed production on the premise of good epidemic prevention and control.
At present, the resumption rate of key foreign-funded enterprises in Shanghai, Shandong, Hunan and other places exceeds 80%, and it is expected that foreign companies in most places will basically resume production at the end of February. Among them, Tesla's Shanghai factory officially resumed work on February 10, and was one of the earliest foreign-funded enterprises in China to resume work.
People saw that at the Tesla Super Factory in Shanghai in the early morning, about 2,500 returning employees passed the detection of infrared temperature testers in turn at the entrance and went to their respective posts to start a busy day. In addition to equipping employees with adequate equipment and supplies such as masks and goggles, Tesla also strictly disinfects the work area. This ensures that both sides of the epidemic prevention and control and resumption of production are taken into account.
Foreign companies have resumed work and production one after another, showing once again the strong appeal of a Chinese market with a population of 1.4 billion.
Since 2017, China has become the world's second largest inflow of foreign capital for three consecutive years. In January this year, the actual use of foreign capital nationwide was 87.57 billion yuan, an increase of 4% year-on-year, basically continuing the steady growth momentum since last year.
At present, a consensus of foreign companies in China is that the impact of the epidemic on the Chinese economy is temporary and temporary, and the long-term trend of the Chinese economy will not change. The head of Ford China recently said that China's huge market rigid demand is still there, and Ford is full of confidence in China's future development.
On the 20th, there was a news that caused widespread concern in the auto industry. Ningde Times, China ’s largest power battery manufacturer, said in response to media enquiries that it has signed a volume production and supply pricing agreement with Tesla, and Tesla will purchase lithium-ion power batteries from Ningde Times. According to Tesla's plan, by the end of this year, Chinese-made Tesla will be completely localized.
It can be seen how important China's complete industrial chain is for foreign companies, which not only facilitates their expansion into the Chinese market, but also helps reduce operating costs. Goldman Sachs' 2018 research report shows that if Apple moves all production and assembly back to the United States, production costs will increase by 37%.
This account will naturally count foreign companies. The "foreign enterprise relocation theory" that appears from time to time obviously ignores economic laws. While some American politicians are taking advantage of the epidemic, the claim that the industrial chain is shifted away from China is totally untenable.
In order to help enterprises resume work and resume production, the Chinese government has issued a series of measures, emphasizing that domestic and foreign-funded enterprises are treated equally and treated equally, to ensure that foreign-funded enterprises apply the same support policies, and also guides foreign-funded enterprises to make full use of various support policies and measures to respond to the epidemic.
Taking Shanghai as an example, after the introduction of 28 measures to promote the stable and healthy development of enterprises, as of February 15th, two batches of a total of more than 140 foreign-funded enterprises have been collected and reported to banks so that they can enjoy relevant financing preferential policies; The list of 3 key foreign-funded epidemic prevention production enterprises was reported to the financial department so that they can enjoy relevant fiscal policies.
In the past two days, Alfa Laval (Qingdao) Industrial Co., Ltd., a manufacturer of marine boilers, is stepping up delivery of orders to South Korea and Japan. The relevant person in charge of the company said in an interview with the media that it would not be possible to restore production capacity so quickly without the support of the local government.
Helping others is helping themselves. In this battle of China's fight against the epidemic, the performance of foreign companies in China is impressive. Relevant statistics show that as of February 14, the total donations of foreign-funded enterprises to China's anti-epidemic aid have exceeded 1.76 billion. In addition to cash donations, they also donated a large amount of basic daily necessities and professional medical supplies.
This is just like Ge Guorui, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said, "We want to prove with action that we are also part of the Chinese society." He also said that from the feedback of business executives of member companies of the chamber of commerce, Huamei enterprises still hold the Chinese economy. I am confident that the US business community is willing to strengthen cooperation with China.
At present, with the hard work of the Chinese people, the epidemic prevention and control has achieved remarkable results. China is working hard to minimize the impact of the epidemic, and is confident and capable of achieving its established economic and social development goals and tasks.
The epidemic will not weaken China's huge market demand of 1.4 billion people, will not shake China's solid foundation for long-term stable development, and will not shake China's determination to further reform and opening up.
Those foreign-funded foreign companies that have overcome the difficult times with China are bound to usher in the spring together with China. (International Critics Reviewer)