Austria-China ties deepen amid balanced investment and expanding cooperation, ambassador says

As Austria and China celebrate the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations this year, Austrian Ambassador to China Wolf Dietrich Heim said ties have witnessed remarkable growth across various areas, laying a solid foundation for future cooperation.

"We've seen spectacular growth in many ways," Heim said in a recent interview with China Daily, adding trade and mutual investment have grown dynamically.

Bilateral investment has become increasingly balanced, the ambassador said. The stock of Austrian investment in China and Chinese investment in Austria now stands at roughly 5 billion eruos ($5.71 billion) to 6 billion eruos on each side, he noted.

While Austrian companies entered the Chinese market earlier, Chinese firms have since established a strong presence in Austria and accumulated a comparable level of investment, Heim added.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, trade between Austria and China has expanded more than 400-fold. In 2025, bilateral trade volume reached $12.5 billion. China has become Austria's third-largest trading partner.

To date, around 650 Austrian companies have invested in and operate in China， according to the ambassador. At the same time, more than 50 Chinese companies are now established in Austria, operating across industries including machinery, automobiles, telecommunications, and financial services.

The ambassador said that the key areas of bilateral cooperation at present are mobility-related industries, as well as energy sector and the green energy transition.

The services sector is also playing an increasingly important role in economic cooperation, Heim added.

"Mobility as a whole sector, airspace and vehicles in general, is a very strong element in our bilateral relations over many years," the ambassador said.

It is also the area where he showed keen interest during his visit to South China's Guangdong province last month.

During his visit to Guangzhou Automobile Group Co, he said that China is successfully producing new energy vehicles, some of which are assembled in Austria before sold across many European countries.

The Guangdong visit also offered him a closer look at some of the forces driving China's economic transformation and technological development.

Heim attributed much of the region's success to its strategic location and long-standing connections with the outside world.

"It is impressive to see that the history of the Pearl River Delta is a strong element," he said, adding that cities like Shenzhen and the whole region have made the best of their location and their history, and their connection with the wider world.

"I think Guangdong is a very good example of the prowess and the strength of the Chinese economy, and it is very export oriented, which is also important for us," he said.

Beyond bilateral ties, Heim also emphasized the importance of maintaining open communication amid challenges in the trade relationship between China and the European Union.

The ambassador noted that the EU has growing concerns about trade imbalances, adding "we have many channels of communication, and they are functioning much better right now".

He said Austria hopes that the dialogue between the EU and China "will continue to be intense and also solution-oriented" so as to help shape policies that will make China and Europe "more resilient and more successful at a time when closer cooperation is needed more than ever."