(Economic Observation) Two-way investment between China and Europe has rebounded strongly. What is the prospect of reaching a total investment of US$250 billion?
China News Service, Beijing, July 5 (Mei Yunqiu Xiabin) In recent years, China-EU bilateral economic and trade relations have continued to develop, but there are also many uncertain factors.
How to maintain the resilience and vitality of China-EU two-way investment cooperation in a complex situation, and what should Chinese and European companies do?
China Europe International Business School recently held the China Europe·Beijing Forum with the theme of "Focusing on the Changing Global Business Environment" in Beijing.
Professor Cui Fan of the School of International Business and Economics of the University of International Business and Economics pointed out at the forum that the total bilateral investment between China and Europe has reached 250 billion US dollars.
Last year, due to the impact of Brexit and the epidemic, foreign investment in the 27 EU member states fell sharply; China's investment in the EU and the UK dropped by 45%.
With the effective control of the epidemic, in the first half of 2021, the growth rate of two-way investment between China and Europe has shown a strong rebound: in the first five months, EU investment in China increased by 16.8%; in the first four months, Chinese investment in the EU increased by 70.8%.
Companies in China and the European Union and chambers of commerce on both sides are very active.
However, the current EU investment environment also faces many uncertainties.
Cui Fan pointed out that the two-tier review mechanism of the EU and its member states has made the security review of some industries more complicated, and the release of draft legislation related to foreign subsidies has added uncertainty to China-EU economic and trade exchanges.
The signing of the China-EU Investment Agreement is still unknown. In this context, China-EU investment relations have become quite complicated.
But he also believes that the investment cooperation space between the EU and the EU is very broad.
Cui Fan bluntly said that China's current opening-up measures are not just opening to the east, but more and more emphasis on opening to the west, especially by land.
On the one hand, we are building a new land-sea corridor in China's western region, and connecting to the ASEAN Maritime Silk Road countries in the south; on the other hand, we have formed a closer industrial chain connection with the EU on land through the China-Europe Railway Express.
In the coming period, the Asia-Europe value chain will become increasingly close.
This will have a profound impact on the pattern of the entire global value chain.
After China joined the WTO, a number of Chinese companies have "goed out" to participate in global division of labor and cooperation, and Bluestar Group is one of them.
In 2006, Bluestar Group acquired Adisseo, an animal nutrition additive brand in France. In addition, it also conducted a series of mergers and acquisitions and asset reorganizations in France and Norway.
Hao Zhigang, Chairman of Bluestar Group and Bluestar Adisseo, said that he has witnessed the investment development of Chinese companies in Europe and felt the continuous improvement of the European investment environment, which has become an increasingly better investment area for Chinese investors.
For the acquired European companies, China has also provided a broad space for their rapid business development.
"Where is the rapid development? It's in China." Hao Zhigang said.
As a state-owned enterprise that invests in technology-intensive industries in the EU, how can it gain the recognition and welcome of the local government and society, realize the company's strategy steadily and achieve a win-win situation for both parties?
In this regard, Hao Zhigang concluded that, first of all, it is necessary to adapt to the local humanistic environment, financial environment and working environment, and provide retention plans to the original management; secondly, as a Chinese shareholder, it is necessary to work together with the management of the acquired company to develop emerging emerging markets in China and Asia. The market realizes the rapid replication of technology; the third is to provide stock options to the management through listing, or a mechanism related to stock prices, so that the future development of the management and the company is related to the value growth of the capital market, helping the company to achieve sustainable development.
As early as 1992, Siemens Healthcare started continuous investment in China.
Wang Hao, president of Siemens Healthcare Greater China, said that its current business scale in China is about 20 billion yuan (RMB, the same below), and China has become the company's second largest market in the world.
At present, Siemens Medical has invested in four production bases and R&D centers in Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Wuxi. Among them, the first in-vitro diagnostic reagent production base in the Asia-Pacific region in Shanghai has invested 3 billion yuan and is expected to be put into operation in 2023.
Wang Hao said that the first thing China faced was competition with foreign companies in the past, but the market has undergone great changes in recent years.
In the second half of this year, Siemens Medical will establish an innovation center in Zhangjiang, Shanghai. In the future, it will provide an open platform to develop products that truly originate in China together with leading domestic digital medical companies.
Wang Hao is full of confidence in the future: "In the past, foreign companies first carried out R&D and innovation overseas, and then placed leading products or production in China; now, they must make China a part of innovation. In the future, a large number of innovations in China will become first-rate If we don’t actively participate in it, we will lose our future.” (End)