Sino-European ties have a local touch

Across Europe, from Ireland in the west to Poland in the east, many provincial and local governments are going all out to attract Chinese investment.

The Rhodium Group, a US consulting firm that analyzes macroeconomic trends in Greater China, said in a report in February that Europe has attracted twice as much investment as the US from Chinese investors in the past two years.

Annual flows of Chinese direct investment to the European Union increased from less than $1 billion before 2008 to an average of $3 billion in 2009 and 2010, before tripling to more than $10 billion in the past two years, the report said.

In some European cities or towns, even a single Chinese project can be a boom for the local economy. One example is Athlone, Ireland, population 18,000, and 90 minutes by train from Dublin airport.

The Europe China Trading Hub, set up by Chinese investors, is an exhibition center that allow European buyers to inspect Chinese imports before placing bulk orders shipped from China. Construction of the center, which costs 1.4 billion euros ($1.85 billion), will begin next year.

Alan Shaw, a local government councilor in Athlone, says the project will greatly benefit the community.

John Tiernan, chief executive of the ECTH, says the project will create up to 9,000 jobs and draw up to 30,000 visitors a week to the town.

In France, more than 70 towns and cities have friendship agreements with Chinese regions, the National Commission for Decentralized Cooperation says.

"Since China's opening up there has been a lot of cooperation between France and China," says Jean-Claude Levy of the commission. "We passed a law in 1992 which gave towns in France a lot of autonomy in making agreements and cooperation with foreign cities.

In southern Belgium, the government of the mainly French speaking region of Wallonia set up a China Welcome Office in the city of Mons in 2009.

Wang Haichen, the office's director, says it specifically targets Chinese who want to set up shop in the city's business park.

"We provide a one-stop shop business incubator for Chinese investors," Wang says.

Wang is well equipped for the job, having numerous contacts with Chinese investors and having lived in Belgium for more than 10 years.

In November 2009 the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei opened a research and development center in Wallonia.

Eight Chinese companies have registered to set up operations in the park, three of those already being there, Wang says.

In Oldenburg, Germany, is an office dedicated to cooperations with Chinese cities. It has been there for almost six years.

"The office is a platform for contacts and cooperation agreements, for projects within China and investors and tourists from China and Asia," says Wang Yu, head of the office.

One of the six languages available in its official website is Chinese.

More than 56 Oldenburg companies and institutes maintain ties with Chinese cities, some of those relationships being longstanding.

About 500 km northeast of Oldenburg, Falkenberg in western Sweden forged a friendship agreement with Shijiazhuang in Hebei province 11 years ago. Since then, agreements have been signed covering table tennis, education and energy. Falkenberg now also has a Confucius classroom.

The central province of Lodzkie in Poland is trying to attract Chinese companies to its local business hub, the Lodz Special Economic Zone, emphasizing the benefits of the freight train that links the city of Lodz with Chengdu in southwestern China.

Contact the writers at cecily.liu@chinadaily.com.cn and zhangchunyan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 04/19/2013 page12)