China and Europe are important trading partners for each other

Experts generally say that since the beginning of this year, China Europe exchanges have pressed the "accelerator button", including bilateral talks between China, Germany, China and France, trilateral meetings between China, France, and Europe, as well as close interaction between China and EU institutions. Through this series of intensive interactions, the momentum accumulated in China Europe cooperation in recent years has been fully unleashed, and economic and trade cooperation has maintained a good momentum of development.

According to data released by the General Administration of Customs, in the first five months, the EU was China's second largest trading partner, with a total trade value of 2.28 trillion yuan between China and the EU, an increase of 3.6%, accounting for 13.6%. Among them, exports to the European Union reached 1.48 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.4%; Imports from the European Union reached 80.04 billion yuan, an increase of 5.8%; The trade surplus with the European Union reached 679.09 billion yuan, narrowing by 1.3%.

In an interview with China Trade Daily, Ye Jiang, a researcher at the Shanghai Institute of International Studies, stated that China and the European Union are important trade partners and have strong industrial complementarity. The EU has always been China's largest source of technology introduction, and China's industries and goods are also needed by the EU market. Although the epidemic has had some impact on China EU trade in recent years, the stable operation of Trans-Eurasia Logistics has helped China EU trade continue to grow.

Since the opening of Trans-Eurasia Logistics, the number has risen rapidly. From 80 trains opened in 2013 to 16000 trains in 2022, the cumulative number of trains has exceeded 65000 in the past 10 years, playing a positive supporting role in promoting economic and trade exchanges between China and European countries and maintaining the stability of the industrial chain supply chain.

In terms of two-way investment, China and Europe also have great potential. In 2022, the EU's investment in China reached $10 billion, a year-on-year increase of 96.6%, mainly concentrated in industries such as automobiles, biopharmaceutical technology, chemicals, and consumer goods manufacturing. Since the beginning of this year, executives from multiple European companies have come to China to personally promote cooperation projects with China, demonstrating their firm confidence in investment and development in China. Kang Linsong, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Mercedes Benz Group Co., Ltd., previously stated during a visit to the Chinese market that China's opening-up strategy fully unleashes market vitality, and enterprises will increase investment and continue to expand their layout in the Chinese market. It is understood that Mercedes Benz has two major research and development centers in China, Beijing and Shanghai. In order to meet market demand, the size of China's R&D team is expected to reach 2000 people by the end of this year, nearly double the size of 2020, "said Kang Linsong.

Greenfield investment is currently becoming a key focus of China's investment in Europe. The 2022 China to Europe Direct Investment Report released by global information agency Rongding Group shows that China's green space investment in Europe increased by 53% to 4.5 billion euros in 2022, accounting for 57% of China's total direct investment in Europe, surpassing mergers and acquisitions for the first time since 2008. Experts say that compared to mergers and acquisitions, Greenfield Investment does not require major renovations to existing factories or manufacturing bases, and foreign mergers and acquisitions are also prone to issues such as antitrust, compliance approval, and resistance from local trade unions.