The Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce celebrated the Year of the Tiger on February 7 in an online event with special guests of honor His Excellency Cao Zhongming, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China in Belgium, and His Excellency Jan Jambon, Minister-President of the Government of Flanders.
Ms Gwenn Sonck, Executive Director, Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce, delivered the welcome speech. “Let me wish you all a Happy and Healthy Year of the Tiger! The Tiger is tenacious, powerful and ambitious. This year is the year of the Water Tiger. The element water is a source of nourishment and symbolizes fluidity and movement, which means the Water Tiger may find this year to be a good one for change and moving forward! So taking into account the slowing down of the pandemic and easing of restrictions, we hope to soon continue our events and meet you in person again and of course, we hope that later this year, we will be able to visit China again! We are honored that His Excellency Cao Zhongming, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China and Mr Jan Jambon, Minister-President of the Government of Flanders, can celebrate the Year of the Tiger with us. During this celebration, the Ambassador will share his views on the perspectives of the Chinese economy and the development of our bilateral trade relations. Mr Minister-President Jan Jambon will give us an insight in the trade and investment relations between Flanders and China, and our Chairman, Mr Kurt Vandeputte, will give the introduction.”
Mr Kurt Vandeputte, Chairman, Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce, introduced the guests. “Let me first of all, wish you all a Happy Year of the Tiger! It is motivating and heart-warming to see so many participants online to celebrate the new year. I’m sure we all hope to meet each other in person very soon! I would like to start with thanking His Excellency Ambassador Cao Zhongming and his colleagues for their continued support and cooperation with our Chamber and our member companies. Your support and guidance is very important in the development of the business activities of Flemish companies in China. I look forward to a continued and even deepening of our cooperation and friendship in the coming years. I also wish to thank Minister-President Jambon, the Government of Flanders and our structural partner, Flanders Investment & Trade for their support of our Chamber. I remain strongly convinced that together we can further intensify the trade between Flanders and China. More than ever, Flanders is an attractive, innovative and business-friendly region for Chinese companies to explore the business opportunities that Europe can offer for them. Lastly, I want to extend my gratitude to the Federal Government of Belgium for their support to our Chamber.”
You see on your screens a proud and smiling new Chairman of the Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce! Proud because despite the very difficult conditions, the year of the Ox, has been a very good year for our Chamber. Our membership basis increased significantly and we could reach a record amount of people with the variety of events, info sharing sessions, debate sessions and experience sharing activities in 2021. This clearly indicates that there is more than ever a need for information sharing, understanding each other better, for identifying new innovation or business partners. So thank you dear members, your interactions drive and motivate us to do better and more for you.” Last week, we have unfortunately witnessed with a Flemish athlete participating to the Winter Olympics in Beijing how important it is that strongly different cultures need to align well, need to prepare well, agree on clear collaboration procedures, and most important of all: communicate well! This is a good lesson for business collaboration, and it also goes to the fundamental objective of our Chamber: develop better business relationships through mutual respect and collaboration.
Our Chamber has built over the years a strong partner network in China, mainly thanks to all the investments of our member companies in very diverse regions in China. These partnerships with industry- and innovation-minded cities can help you (our members) in identifying attractive business opportunities to sell your products or services but also to manufacture your goods in an attractive ecosystem. In this respect, I also wish to thank the City of Weihai, located in Shandong province, for their support to our Chamber and our companies that have invested in the city.
Allow me to draw your attention and to recommend you our China Business Weekly Newsletter providing useful information on China’s economy and foreign trade. Due to the pandemic, networking “guanxi” at conferences has become more difficult but this is surely back on our agenda in the Year of the Tiger! Lastly, I would like to stress the importance of the European dimension of our Chamber: the EU-China Business Association. The EU-China Business Association is the umbrella organization of all bilateral China organizations in Europe promoting economic and trade relations between the EU and China.
As many of us know, China’s market offers long-term business opportunities for our companies. And many (if not most) of our companies are in China for China. According to a survey of EU companies in China, they mentioned that despite the economic upheaval caused by Covid, a notable 42% of European companies reported increased revenues in 2020, with automotive, machinery, IT and telecoms, pharmaceutical and the retail sector posting particularly strong financials. Furthermore, European companies remain firmly committed to the Chinese market and indicate the plan to further grow their activities in China. It goes without saying that one of our big challenges for companies doing business with China is the fact that we still cannot travel to China due to the impractical imposed safety measures. From several members we have received feedback that this situation is creating negative impacts on their business and operations in China. Let's however not forget, for many companies, the biggest risk doing business with China is still not to be in China.
Before coming to my closing remarks, I would like our excellencies present at this event to create an environment that allows fluent bilateral trade between Flanders and China! Both sides have become interdependent and the future positive development of our societies will be based on smooth trade. I would like to wish all of you good health, prosperity and very successful businesses in the year of the tiger ! Let’s cheer for our athletes at the Beijing Winter Olympics and wish them loads of medals.”
His Excellency Cao Zhongming, Ambassador of the People's Republic of China in Belgium, said: “It gives me great pleasure to join the online celebration hosted by the Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce for the 2022 Chinese New Year of the Tiger. Today marks the 7th day of the first lunar month in the traditional Chinese calendar and I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a very Happy Chinese New Year. Meanwhile, the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics being in full swing, let us join each other to cheer on competing athletes of both China and Belgium, wishing them to reach key performance in the Games.
This past year of 2021 has seen the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Belgium. President Xi Jinping exchanged congratulatory messages with His Majesty Philippe, King of Belgium. Premier Li Keqiang held a video conference with Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. Both Chinese and Belgian business communities have been joining hands to mitigate impacts of the pandemic, achieving satisfying results to mark the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations. It is also in this year of 2021 that bilateral trade flow between the two countries reached USD38,95 billion with a year-on-year increase of 36,3%.
This past year of 2021 has seen the centenary of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Chinese people’s aspiration for a better life is not only the focus of Chinese communists’ efforts, but also the biggest internal driver for China’s development. In 2021, China’s GDP has grown by 8,1% with a total of USD17,7 trillion, achieving the dual target of fairly high growth and relatively low inflation. Its aggregate foreign trade value exceeded USD6 trillion; and China’s actual use of foreign capital surged to USD173,48 billion with an increase of 20,2% year-on-year. Now, China is marching on a new journey of building a modern socialist country in all respects. The fundamentals of the Chinese economy, characterised by strong resilience, enormous potential and long-term sustainability, remain unchanged.
This past year of 2021 has also seen the 20th anniversary of China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Over the past two decades since its entry, China has fully honored its commitments to the WTO in all aspects: the average tariff rate has dropped from the former 15.3% to the current 7.4%, – lower than the accession commitments at 9,8%; for trade in services, nearly 120 sectors have been opened up – 20 more than what was agreed upon accession; a domestic economic management system aligned with international rules has been established and these measures have unleashed market and social vitality. Nowadays, China has become the world’s largest trader in goods, the second biggest trader in services, and a major trading partner of more than 120 countries and regions. For twenty years, China’s average annual contribution to global growth has remained at about 30%. China’s development has thus been empowering global growth and prosperity.
As a Chinese saying goes, “the whole year's work depends on a good start in spring.” Looking ahead to the year of 2022, I very much look forward to joining hands with you and your Chinese colleagues, in addressing global challenges such as Covid-19, and in strengthening cooperation in multiple areas including innovation, digital economy, medicine and health, agriculture, food, chemical industry, green and low-carbon transition, and sustainable development. We shall work closely together to help maintain the stability of global industrial and supply chains and to better ensure our mutual benefits. Both China and Belgium are staunch advocates and supporters of free trade. I hope that both our countries could unite against protectionism and promote an open economy, playing an active role in advancing China-Belgium and China-EU cooperation.
First, we shall stay firmly confident in China’s economy and actively make good use of the opportunities brought by its opening up and development. President XI Jinping mentioned during his speech at the 2022 virtual session of the World Economic Forum: “for China, reform and opening-up is always a work in process. Whatever change in the international landscape, China will always hold high the banner of reform and opening-up.” In the upcoming year, China will continue to optimize the business environment based on the principles of marketization, rule of law, and internationalization; we will also work to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs), and to bring equal opportunities to both foreign and domestic enterprises. China will further shorten the negative lists of fields restricted to foreign investment, promote the all-around opening up of agriculture and the manufacturing sector, expand the opening of telecommunication, healthcare and other services in an orderly manner, implement a nationwide management system based on negative lists for cross-border trade in services, and improve trade and investment liberalization and facilitation. Not to mention that China will take an active and open attitude in negotiations on issues such as the digital economy, trade and environment, industrial subsidies and state-owned enterprises. China has a population of over 1.4 billion and a middle-income group of more than 400 million people, which makes it the second largest consumer market with a GDP per capita of 12,5 thousand US dollars in 2021, well above the world average. In the next ten years, China’s accumulated value of imports is expected to total more than 22 trillion US dollars, offering enormous opportunities to countries across the world including Belgium. We welcome Flanders’ enterprises to regard China as one of the highest potential markets and to accordingly expand your trade and investment to China for common interest.
Second, we shall strive to consistently enhance China-Belgium cooperation. Science and technology constitute the foremost productive forces and will open up more space for cooperation between China and Belgium. In recent years, Chinese R&D investment has grown remarkably, which has been injecting new impetus into the rapid growth of emerging technologies including big data, cloud computing, internet of things, mobile internet, artificial intelligence (AI) and new energy resources. According to the Global Innovation Index (GII) published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), China has climbed from ranking 29th in 2015 to 12th in 2021. Today’s China is no longer reduced to a country depending on technology importing as before, but rather a key player leading many fields of science and technology. “Made in China” increasingly becomes “Intelligent Manufacturing in China” or “Created in China”. Preqin data shows that venture capital investors put a total of 129 billion US dollars into more than 5,000 start-ups in China in 2021. A two-way technology cooperation between China and Belgium has been nurturing interest of Belgium enterprises and people in Chinese technological innovation and application. Hopefully, Belgian enterprises will seek to make full use of their comparative advantages against protectionism, continue to promote mutually beneficial cooperation with China in science and technology, and further enhance the quality of China-Belgium cooperation for a sustainable long-term development.
Third, we shall firmly reinforce mutual trust between China and Belgium. President Xi Jinping stated on previous occasions: “to uphold true multilateralism, we should remove barriers, not erect walls; we should open up, not close off; we should seek integration, not decoupling.” True multilateralism requires good faith in interactions among countries. Good cooperation shall be based on mutual respect and trust, and the same shall be applicable for business entities. When encountering differences and disagreements arising out of cooperation, we shall work together to properly manage these divergences with mutual trust, instead of turning economic issues into politics and ideologies. With both Chinese enterprises in Belgium and Belgian enterprises in China being key players in cooperation between the two countries, it is up to governments to foster a fair and non-discriminatory market environment and to adopt an open attitude towards trading and investing entities of the two sides. Since three years in my position in Belgium, I am deeply impressed by Flemish entrepreneurs not only because of their diligence, pragmatism and innovation, but also their sharpness and being strong-minded. I stay convinced that you are able to see where fish live in the deep waters of the world’s major markets. Nevertheless, I also would like to share a relatively gloomy impression that certain people in Belgium including in Flanders tend to fabricate an “imaginary opponent” to Belgium, by overstating differences in national circumstances as “threats to national security”, demonizing a friendly country, and devaluing the friendship and mutual trust built with joint efforts by both sides over the last decades; and this was all based on extreme views and misinformation. To be honest, we find it irresponsible to just fabricate an imaginary rival or enemy; and unfortunately, I cannot see any profit for Belgium as a result of this kind of behavior. In China we say, “friendliness is conducive to business success.” Sincerely, I believe in your positive role in safeguarding the mutual trust between our two countries. Our pragmatic cooperation shall be based on the market for a sound development free from disruptions and distractions, in the common objective of richer benefits to people of both sides.
This year marks a vital year in fighting against the pandemic and in boosting the economic recovery. I hope that the business community of Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce will seize the opportunity in the Year of the Tiger to uncover new market potentials with courage and vitality of this legendary animal, to make the market cake even bigger and to deliver more on commitments to pragmatic cooperation between the two countries. Let us join hands with full confidence, and work together for a shared future!
His Excellency Jan Jambon, Minister-President of the Government of Flanders, said: “It is an honor and a pleasure to be able to speak to you here today. Digitally, unfortunately. I would have much preferred it to be physical as well. I assume everyone would. But it is how it is. Let's all hope we can get back to normal as soon as possible. Let me start by wishing you all a Happy New Year. Because of course this event is also meant to celebrate that. We are celebrating the year of the tiger this year. And that makes me happy because the Tiger indicates a prosperous year. The Tiger stands for strength and braveness. Exactly what we need as we finally see light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. I also truly believe that 2022 will be a prosperous year. We must have that hope. All will be well.”
The Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce (FCCC) promotes economic, commercial and scientific relations between Flanders and the People's Republic of China. Se we are going to talk about business and trade, of course. The pandemic has put quite a strain on economic activities, both in Flanders and in China. But for both, we also saw how resilient the economies were and how quick recovery is manifesting itself. This is important because the economy is of course the basis for trade. China is responsible for a large chunk of the world’s economy, exporting over USD2.5 trillion and importing over USD2 trillion worth of goods. In addition, China has a gigantic population. With a market of 1.4 billion people China is key to driving demand in many sectors, also in Flanders. Not only in terms of trade but also in terms of innovation, China is at the top. The World Intellectual Property Organization ranked China as the most innovative upper middle income country in the world. That is something we cannot ignore. Finally, the Chinese economy has shown great resilience, recovering quickly after the first Covid wave. I realize that we cannot yet say that Covid is behind us. But let us be inspired by the tiger and hope that it will be soon and that full recovery will be powerful.
I am aware that next to China, Flanders seems like a dwarf. But don't be fooled by the size of our population or territory. It is with great pride that I can tell you that, relative to its size, Flanders is a trading powerhouse. We were the 15th exporting nation globally in 2020, exporting €298 billion worth of goods. This makes us a real player worldwide. Flanders is also an important partner for China, and vice versa. Flanders has strong trade links with China, exporting over €7,5 billion worth of goods to China and importing well over €16,4 billion of goods in 2020. These are impressive numbers considering the difficulties the world faced at the time. I am hopeful that we will do even better in the future. Trade between China and the EU, too, is significant to say the least. China is the EU’s top trading partner – with €570 billion in imports and exports and over €200 billion in inward and outward foreign direct investment (FDI) streams. The mutual benefit of good trade relations between the EU and China cannot be overstated. The importance of trade to our respective nations is, therefore, a factor that binds us. And it is this importance of international trade in our economy, that means we greatly value openness and reciprocity.
This is also why we value cooperation – particularly on the multilateral stage. After all the multilateral trade system, as embodied by the WTO and other international forums, is what allows us to trade smoothly. This system works to our mutual benefit. Through the WTO we can strive towards a level playing field in which all nations can trade on an equal footing. Bilateral forms of cooperation conducted in good faith, too, are of great importance. This is why the Flemish Government supports the European Commission in negotiating ambitious and balanced free trade agreements and investment agreements. Because it is on the basis of good free trade agreements that trade will continue to flourish, and everyone benefits from that, both Flanders and China. That is why I hope that Flanders and China will continue to develop and strengthen their trade relations. In this context, my government has already conducted a trade mission to China, which will certainly not be the last that the Flemish government, this one or the next, will do. We will continue to build on our good relations.
A question & answer session focussed on trade and investment between Flanders and China and the growing opportunities concluded the online celebration.
