China Week 2020 - Economic cooperation

At the start of the second day of China Week - which focused on economic cooperation between Germany and China - Prof. Dr. Michael Z. Hou, Head of the China Competence Center and initiator of China Week, welcomed all participants and expressed his confidence that yesterday's success could be continued today. He was proved right, because with up to 57 online accesses, exciting presentations and stimulating discussions, the second day of this year's digital China Week was also a great success. Stephan Ossenkopp, freelance journalist and China expert, reiterated the importance of China expertise, which had already been mentioned many times yesterday, at the beginning of his presentation "New Silk Road - a curse or a blessing". Due to the polarizing effect of China, special attention should be paid to an event such as this, which is characterized by outstanding quality and an impressive programme. However, the question of whether the new Silk Road is a curse or a blessing must be decided by each individual. However, Germany could "be a beacon in the new Silk Road, we just have to tackle it with courage".

Prof. Dr. Xianzhang Lei, Chairman of the Board of the Chinese R&D Innovation Union in Germany and member of the German Academy of Science and Engineering Innovative Cooperation, advises setting up joint ventures in order to be able to assert oneself on the huge Chinese market. The competition in China is enormous - not least due to the country's population of almost 1.4 billion people. At the same time, the Chinese market is "neither heaven nor hell", so a lot can be achieved with a "sensible, normal attitude" towards the Chinese market.

The success stories of the two Clausthal "hidden champion companies" Sympatec GmbH - System Partikel-Technik and SyncoTec Group impressively illustrate exactly how this can work. According to Axel Pankewitz, Sales Manager of Sympatec GmbH for China, Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia, the best way to do business in China is to "stay close" and "make yourself visible". According to the internationally oriented management team of the SyncoTec Group (founders: Dr. Joachim Hug in German, Ms. Sabrina Hug: assistant to the management in English and German, Jiantao Lao: project and sales engineer in Chinese and German), the Clausthal location has proven to be advantageous in that Prof. Wan Gang - a former doctoral student at Clausthal University of Technology - has a certain prominence in China. In response to a participant's question about how to protect oneself "against the outflow of intellectual property through theft and employees turning away", a question that also crosses Dr. Hug's mind once a week, Pankewitz replies that there is no protection against copies, you simply have to be better than the competition. Both speakers agree that cooperation with China has been very successful in recent years, resulting in constant, positive sales. They have "not only gained customers, but also friends", and have also learned how important it is to adopt the Chinese mentality and integrate Chinese employees. At the same time, according to Dr. Hug, differences in the treatment of patent rights or tax matters, for example, still have a long way to go.

The presentations by Lei Wang, Chairman of the Board of the Association for the Promotion of Chinese Entrepreneurs in Lower Saxony, and Dr. Henrich Guntermann, Head of German Operations & EU Markets of CICCPS, go one step further and focus on early networking between the Chinese-German partners involved. The 50-member VFCN e. V. takes care of visas and work permits for its paying members, for example, and is available as a permanent point of contact. The relatively newly founded CICCPS pursues a similar strategy, researching potential cooperation partners in a database for both Chinese and German interested parties, establishing and maintaining contacts and assisting in the search for funding opportunities and approvals.

Today's event will conclude with a presentation by Uwe Heinze, Head of the Goslar office of the Braunschweig Chamber of Industry and Commerce, who will talk about German-Chinese economic relations from the perspective of the Braunschweig Chamber of Industry and Commerce. He still sees many opportunities for cooperation, as Germany is the most important partner for China. There is growth potential for both countries, particularly in the areas of electromobility and digitalization.