Reference News Network, November 20 report - According to the website of the German newspaper Berliner Zeitung on November 18, for many years, the German government and the European Union have been urging the business community to diversify and reduce the risks of trade with China. However, according to the latest data released by the Mercator Institute for China Studies based in Berlin, the German export industry does not seem to share this concern.
According to statistics, direct investment from Germany to China is increasing, and large German corporate groups continue to expand their investments in China.
The report states that according to data provided by the Mercator Institute for China Studies, large German groups are particularly active in investing in China. BMW has invested over 10 billion yuan in a battery project in Shenyang. Bloomberg News wrote that this makes China the core of the automaker's global R&D network outside Germany. Mercedes-Benz moved its annual strategy meeting to Beijing and has begun developing electric vehicles specifically for the Chinese market.
In addition, the chemical giant BASF Group has launched a new large-scale integrated chemical project in Guangdong. The CEO of the group, Karlheinz Brandenburg, said that China "is crucial for BASF's development" and helps compensate for the decline in German production capacity.
Bosch also increasingly relies on China, as the company wants to expand its leading position in the field of innovation.
It is reported that over the past five years, German corporate groups such as BMW, BASF, and Bosch have set new records for annual investments in China, marking an accelerated growth in Germany's investments in China. The Mercator Institute for China Studies said that two-thirds of the new investments in China by Germany come from the automotive industry.
Despite Chancellor Merkel repeatedly warning German companies not to rely too much on China, German government officials have not taken any measures to change this. According to a Bloomberg News report, insiders revealed that they held closed-door meetings and developed action plans, but remained hesitant about whether to intervene in German companies' foreign investments.
Evidently, although both the German government and the European Commission hope to regulate industrial policies, companies operate according to market realities and WTO rules. As long as Germany and the EU do not make significant interventions at the official level or develop specific support programs to create new sales markets for German companies, China will remain the driving force of German industry. (Translated by Wang Qing)
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