Executives confident about China business
A1 As the world's second-largest economy, China has gradually transformed into a major country in terms of consumption, engineering and innovation, while remaining a manufacturing powerhouse. The Chinese market has obvious advantages in the fields of market size, talent, innovation and intelligence. After experiencing various challenges, we have seen the resilience of the Chinese economy. China's reform and opening-up process continues to advance. I believe these factors will help bolster China's economic development in the future.
A2 China is the only country that has achieved positive economic growth since April 2020, and even in the Panasonic Group, only China unit has achieved growth in business performance, spearheading growth across the globe. Panasonic's business in China is still on the growth track in 2021, along with the economic recovery in other countries. Although there will be more uncertainties and unpredictable situations in 2022, we are confident of our business growth in China.
A3 Panasonic has witnessed China's reform and opening-up since the establishment of our first joint venture in China in 1987. It is of utmost importance to maintain the direction of reform and opening-up. In this sense, we are paying attention to the Central Economic Work Conference. I fully understand that the strict prevention and control measures related to COVID-19 pandemic will be maintained in 2022, and I hope visa issuances for Japanese whose family members have been dispatched to work in China could be relaxed.
A4 I think China's "dual carbon" goals are very challenging. Panasonic carries out various businesses in a more environmentally friendly and green way to contribute to carbon neutrality. We are making efforts to build environmentally friendly stores, provide hydrogen energy batteries, and achieve energy saving and emissions reduction through the use of heat pumps and compressors. Panasonic has more than 20 years of experience in hydrogen energy. There have been successful commercial cases of hydrogen production from natural gas. We hope to bring this technology to China and strive to use hydrogen energy in Chinese factories in 2022.
A5 In Panasonic's global investment layout, we pay more attention to the huge market demand, a complete industrial chain, strong acceptance of new technologies, and the huge advantages and potential for economic development. Therefore, Panasonic will continue to explore China as an important global market. In addition, we know that the government is strengthening the supervision of companies that use consumer data in a monopolistic manner, and we are not worried about this.
