Photo taken on July 26, 2022 shows the booth of cosmetics giant L’Oreal in the French pavilion at the second China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE) in Haikou, south China’s Hainan Province. [Photo/Xinhua]
BERLIN — In its April 2023 East Asia and the Pacific Economic Update titled “Reviving Growth,” the World Bank forecast that the projected slowdown in growth in advanced economies could be largely offset by signs of a revival in the Chinese economy.
This was reflected in successive visits to China by heads of state and CEOs of global corporations, united in the belief that China and its market are not an option, but a necessity.
Productive Business Relationships
The essence of economic and trade relations between China and the European Union is complementarity and mutual benefit.
In 2022, China-EU trade and economic cooperation remained resilient and dynamic, and the high-level dialogues set the course for China-EU trade and economic cooperation. Total bilateral trade in goods between China and the EU was valued at 5,646.798 billion yuan ($821.24 billion), up 5.6 percent year on year.
German companies invested a record 11.5 billion euros in China in 2022, according to the report by the German Economic Institute published on March 29. The prospects for growth in the Chinese sales market are simply “too attractive” for German executives.
“Withdrawal from the Chinese market is currently not an issue for most companies,” says a recent study by the Federal Association of Materials Management, Purchasing and Logistics.
“We have maintained very strong and productive relationships with local partners in China and across all communication channels for many years. We just want to continue that,” said Ola Kaellenius, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, in his latest interview with Xinhua.
Looking back over the past 20 to 30 years, Kaellenius said China has opened up its economy to become an integral part of the world economy. He viewed China’s opening-up as a success story, allowing Chinese startups and big companies to expand their businesses and facilitating foreign direct investment, adding that opening up China further would likely prompt Mercedes-Benz to increase its investments.
Kaellenius said what must not happen, however, is protectionism, because if economic regions fall into protectionism, it will ultimately slow down growth.
“That’s why we want to make our voice heard and remind everyone that opening up the world has led to economic growth,” he said.
Fabrice Megarbane, president of L’Oreal North Asia Zone and CEO of L’Oreal China, told Xinhua that his group is overall optimistic and ambitious on China in the short and long term.
Since China optimized its COVID response, “we have already seen potential opportunities in the market, which makes us even more optimistic about China’s economic prospects and prospects,” Megarbane said in a recent interview with Xinhua.
The French cosmetics giant was preparing for the recovery of the beauty market. From the first week of February, consumer traffic and shopping have shown positive signs and L’Oreal expects a gradual recovery from the second quarter and a rebound in consumer enthusiasm across categories, Megarbane said.
His boss, L’Oreal CEO Nicolas Hieronimus, who visited China last month, shared his enthusiasm.
“Activity and consumption are gradually increasing, with good prospects in sight. I came back super energized and very confident for the market,” Hieronimus told French daily Le Figaro. “It’s the group’s second largest market and things are changing very quickly there.”
A large number of French bosses have “jumped on the plane” to re-establish face-to-face contact with their business partners in China and have returned with full confidence in the potential of the Chinese market, according to a front-page article published by Le Figaro Economie was released Monday.
Franck Lebouchard, head of French acoustics engineering company Devialet, was among those who couldn’t wait to go to China.
Back in France after a two-week stay in China, where he met with some executives from BYD, the leading Chinese maker of electric vehicles, Lebouchard told the French daily: “We fell into each other’s arms, although we’ve never been have seen each other.”
All French bosses came back from China with the certainty that the country still had a lot of potential, wrote Le Figaro, and “everyone wants to continue investing there”.
More than business
In Greece, where the tourism industry accounts for a quarter of gross domestic product, Chinese people hold a special place in the planning of local tourism players and in the hearts of local people.
“We have historical connections with the Chinese people. We all wait for them with love from the bottom of our hearts, true love, to host them and to offer our services. All the restaurants look forward to seeing the Chinese coming because they are good customers and we all love them very much,” Spiros Bairaktaris, owner of a popular restaurant in central Athens that was founded 144 years ago, told Xinhua.
Greek Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias told Xinhua in a previous interview that the return of Chinese tourists will help Greece’s tourism industry perform well despite the adversity of recent years.
“They are very involved in finding out about our culture and our civilization because culture and civilization in both countries go back many centuries. We are preparing to have them in Greece,” he said.
After the easing of travel restrictions, the Chinese market will again be one of the fastest developing markets for Greece, Ioanna Papadopoulou, director of communications and marketing at Athens International Airport, told Xinhua.
The direct flight between Athens and Beijing was introduced in 2017. In just two years, he has helped double the number of Chinese arrivals at Athens International Airport from 108,613 to over 217,600 in 2019. The launch of the direct flight service between the Greek capital and Shanghai on December 22, 2022, in addition to the Athens-Beijing route, is a very good start for 2023, she said.
“We are ready to welcome back our Chinese travelers, which we have missed tremendously in all three years of the pandemic,” she said.
Italy, one of the most visited destinations by Chinese travelers, expects more from them.
Cristiano Varotti, chief representative of the Italian National Tourist Board in China, saw Sicily and the islands, ski resorts in the Alps and some small towns as new attractions for Chinese travelers. Many Chinese travel agencies are focused on offering customers higher-level travel plans that meet their more sophisticated needs, Varotti said.
In 2019, China was the 11th market for Italy in terms of total international arrivals. There is great room for growth, even in the composition of Chinese tourists’ overseas spending, as it is a market that is yet to realize its full potential, he said.
“We are planning a roadshow in China in the coming months to meet and serve Chinese companies in person,” Varotti said.
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