On May 25, the Ministry of Commerce held a regular briefing, during which a media question was asked about the German Institute for Economic Research's recent analysis of data showing that German direct investment in China is increasing despite a tightening international environment. According to the Institute's estimates, the increase in German direct investment in China in 2022 will be greater than that in the years from 2016 to 2020. What does the Ministry of Commerce have to say about this?
The Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Shuang Jue-ting said that China and Germany are each other's important economic and trade partners, and China has remained Germany's top trading partner for seven consecutive years, while Germany is China's top trading partner, the top source of foreign investment and an important investment destination in the European region. According to Chinese statistics, Germany invested US$2.57 billion in China in 2022, up 52.8% year-on-year. BMW's capital increase in the joint venture, BASF's Zhanjiang integrated production base, Audi Changchun new energy vehicles and many other major projects of German enterprises in China have landed, which fully illustrates that German enterprises are optimistic about the prospects of long-term development in China.
Against the background of the current lack of momentum in the global economic recovery, the further deepening of economic and trade cooperation between China and Germany is in the fundamental interests of both countries and peoples and will also contribute to the recovery of the world economy. The Chinese government will unswervingly expand a high level of openness to the outside world and continue to create a market-oriented, rule of law and internationalized business environment, welcoming more German companies to invest in China and deepen the Chinese market. At the same time, we hope that the German side will provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises to invest and operate in Germany, and promote open and practical cooperation between the two sides.