'Biggest risk is not being in China,' says German Chamber of Commerce executive in Shanghai

SHANGHAI - China remains appealing to German businessmen, and many believe that "the biggest risk is not being in China and therefore losing global competitiveness," Maximilian Butek, executive director and board member of German Chamber of Commerce in China-Shanghai, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

German companies hope to "benefit from the innovation system" in China not only to have growth opportunities, but also to keep being competitive, said Butek, also chief representative of the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Shanghai.

German businessmen "are like in a 'time bubble' and see that the last three years China developed further," Butek said. "There are a lot of innovative new products. Digitalization was driven further. Artificial intelligence is developing so fast."

"Major new technologies will be developed in China, and if we are not here to participate in these developments, how can we survive abroad? Luckily, I'm not so worried because most of the German companies understood that," said Butek.

The German Chamber of Commerce in China released a business confidence survey for 2023/24 in January, with responses from 566 member companies.

Over 90 percent of the companies, shows the survey, plan to continue establishing themselves in the Chinese market; more than half of them plan to increase their investments in China over the next two years; and 78 percent are expecting consistent growth in their industry in the coming five years.

Butek believes that the Chinese economy, which has become quite mature, can be very robust in the middle and long term. He commended the ever-improving business environment in China, saying that many Germans feel that it's "easy to talk about cooperation, about partnership in China."

"I believe that Chinese companies learned quite well the last 30 years from German companies. It's time now for us to learn from Chinese companies. I think we are really on a level where cooperation could be both ways now," he said.

He noted that China provides great chances for future advancement in areas like electric car batteries and autonomous driving. "That's why also startups are coming to China."

Butek voiced confidence that the visa-free policy for some European countries, including Germany, will encourage more Germans to travel to China, hence more business and cultural exchanges.