China's annual "two sessions" are being held in Beijing from March 4 to March 11. China's 2025 government work report, delivered by Premier Li Qiang on March 5, stated that China will encourage foreign investors to increase their reinvestment in China and support them in collaborating with upstream and downstream enterprises in industrial chains.
"Approximately three-quarters of our members do reinvest their profits in China, which is a signal that they see continued growth opportunities for themselves here," Adam Dunnett, Secretary General of the European Union Chamber of Commerce (EuCham) in China, shared with GDToday his optimistic outlook on China's economic development and European countries' reinvestment in China.
Frictions and trade barriers hurt growth of China-EU trade
Despite talks of "decoupling" with China and some trade frictions, statistics show that the European Union (EU) and China still enjoy strong trade and commercial relationships. The bilateral trade reached 5,591.5 billion yuan ($762 billion), marking a modest 1.6% rise year on year. China's exports to the EU totaled 3,675.1 billion yuan, and imports from the EU reached 1,916.4 billion yuan.
China is the EU's largest import partner and third-largest export partner. In the past year, the EU has remained China's second-largest trading partner, trailing only behind the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Dunnett indicated that the economic relationship between the EU and China has remained stable in the past few years. However, after experiencing a decade of significant high growth, it grew by just under 2% last year.
Electric vehicles serve as a crucial part of the green transition. Although the EU imposed additional tariffs on China's electric vehicles last year, Dunnett regarded what's very important in bilateral relations as ensuring that a sustainable and well-understood mechanism for dealing with such a rapid increase in an attractive sector for people around the world should be built.
Therefore, "quite frankly, we need to continue to liberalize our trade and try to avoid frictions and trade barriers, if we are able to grow it, and if we want to grow it more," Dunnett suggested.
"Many of these industrial transitions that are happening are very good for China and for the EU," Dunnett gave as an example of the green transition that China's dual carbon targets and the EU's carbon goals align, providing a solid foundation for joint efforts in sustainable development.
Dunnett added, "the E-vehicle industry in China isn't just a momentary blip in time. This is a long-term industry that has a bright future ahead of it."
Optimism on China's opening-up encouraging reinvestment
The government work report emphasizes that regardless of changes in the external environment, China should remain steadfast in its commitment to opening up. China should steadily expand institutional opening up and take the initiative to open wider and advance unilateral opening up in a well-ordered way, so as to promote reform and development through greater openness.
Dunnett highlighted the reinvestment confidence of EU companies in an open and vibrant China, with data showing that approximately three-quarters of EuCham members are reinvesting their profits in China. The investment behaviors of EU enterprises are consistent with the Chinese government's policies encouraging foreign reinvestment.
The shortening of the negative list and the introduction of pilot projects for cross-border data transfer, indicate a commitment to further opening up the economy. These developments present exciting opportunities for EU businesses.
"This reminds me very much of the period, 20, 30 years ago, when China was opening up to the rest of the world, and you had these special economic zones in Shenzhen and Zhuhai," Dunnett said.
Based on a series of opening-up measures to lift restrictions on foreign investment, Dunnett is interested in the services industry, such as education, medical services, and telecommunications, which were also mentioned in the government work report. He is optimistic about the pilot projects, like the cross-border data service center in Lingang, Shanghai, and the platform for international data cooperation in Daxing, Beijing.
Dunnett believes that the members of EuCham are interested, focused, and see opportunities in China.
Reporter: Dai Bosi, Hu Nan, Tang Zitian
Script: Dai Bosi
Cameraman: Pan Jiajun, Liang Zijian
Video: Pan Jiajun
Poster: Cai Junru
Editors: Ouyang Yan, James, Shen He
Chen Jinxia also contributed to the report.
