Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Beijing, China, April 16, 2024. /Xinhua
A recent business confidence survey released by the German Chamber of Commerce in China reveals confidence in the prospects of China-Germany economic and trade cooperation. Among the 566 member companies surveyed, 91 percent expressed their intentions to continue their operations in China, and more than half said they plan to increase investments in the Chinese market.
Last year, several major German companies, including Siemens, Mercedes-Benz, BASF, Volkswagen and BMW, continued to increase investment in China, further highlighting their confidence in the Chinese market.
"Cooperation between China and Germany benefits not just the two sides but also the world at large," Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday during a meeting with Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz, who is on a three-day official visit to China.
The more instability in the world, the greater the need for the two sides to strengthen the resilience and vitality of their relations, Xi said, calling for joint efforts to keep to the overall direction of cooperation and development in growing bilateral ties.
A view of a workshop of the Volkswagen Anhui MEB (Modular Electric Drive Matrix) plant in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province, March 28, 2024. /CFP
China-Germany cooperation not 'risk' but opportunity
Scholz visited Sino-German joint venture Bosch Hydrogen Powertrain Systems (Chongqing) Co., Ltd. and experienced the assembly of hydrogen fuel cell power modules, as well as German company Covestro's Asia-Pacific innovation center, during a trip to China's Chongqing and Shanghai.
"I was impressed by the close and sound cooperation between German and Chinese businesses," he told Xi.
Economic and trade cooperation has always played a vital role in China-Germany ties. Germany is paying more attention to expanding cooperation with China in the field of innovation, particularly in new energy vehicles (NEVs).
Through efforts, China has become a hub for the innovation of NEVs, attracting German automobile companies to further expand their investment in China.
A new joint venture set up by Mercedes-Benz Group China Ltd. and BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd. has been registered in Beijing. Volkswagen Group China announced on April 11 that it will invest 2.5 billion euros (about $2.68 billion) in the expansion of its innovation hub in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province, to increase its pace of innovation in China.
Mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Germany is not a "risk," but a guarantee for a stable bilateral relationship and an opportunity for the future, Xi told Scholz.
Noting that both China and Germany are countries built on industries and both support free trade and economic globalization, Xi said it is important for the two countries to stay vigilant against the rise of protectionism, adopt an objective and dialectical view on the issue of production capacity through a market and global perspective and based on the laws of economics, and devote more efforts to the discussion on cooperation.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visits Covestro's Asia-Pacific innovation center in east China's Shanghai, April 15, 2024. /CFP
Solid, sustained progress of bilateral ties
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of an all-round strategic partnership between the two countries.
The consolidation and development of their relations carries significance that goes beyond the bilateral scope and has a major impact on the Eurasian continent and the entire world, Xi noted.
Bilateral trade volume stood at 253.1 billion euros in 2023, during which China maintained its position as Germany's leading trading partner for the eighth consecutive year.
Last June, the two countries held the seventh China-Germany inter-governmental consultation, agreeing to more cooperation in the fields of climate change response, innovation, advanced manufacturing and vocational education.
The two sides held the third China-Germany high-level financial dialogue in Frankfurt last October, reaching 25 cooperation consensuses. On April 11, 2024, the China-Germany Dialogue Forum on Financial Cooperation was held in Beijing, aiming to deepen financial cooperation to bring more mutually beneficial outcomes.
"As long as the two sides uphold mutual respect, seek common ground while reserving differences, enhance exchanges and mutual learning, and pursue win-win cooperation, China-Germany relations will continue to enjoy solid and sustained progress," Xi said.