While global capital eagerly invests in China, who's hyping up "foreign companies withdrawing from China?" Michael Schumann, a German business association board chairman, remains optimistic and says that he hasn't heard of one single German company considering leaving China.

Michael Schumann: I've met with many companies. I started my itinerary from Shenyang, going to BMW first, looking at the plant there. I talked to many German Hidden Champions that have set up in China, and also to young startups that have set up here during the time of the pandemic.

I didn't hear from one that they were thinking or considering to leave the country. On the contrary, mostly (they) had either just finished new production lines or are planning to expand their investment. 
There's a long history of coverage on China that has not been based on, I would say, substantial knowledge of the country and the people; that often reinforces like old cliches and stereotypes, being afraid of China to some extent. That has a long, long tradition in Western media and that is difficult to overcome.

Liu Xin: What worries you and what keeps you relatively optimistic?

Michael Schumann: Well of course, in great power competition, the major question always is: Can it be resolved peacefully or not?  So, I think that not only worries me, but worries many people in Germany as well. And we just hope that we will find a way, the global community will find a way to manage differences peacefully.

I feel optimistic, still feel optimistic because I see that every encounter makes a change. And we need to become as knowledgeable on China as we have become in the last decades on the United States. It's a process that will take some time. But looking at each and every one of these encounters, I still feel that there's hope.