Industrial park in Beijing crucial link between German and Chinese firms

At a factory in Shunyi district, Beijing, employees are busy working on nine production lines to prepare for the annual peak of water pump orders.

"Production and operations are now back on track with a 100 percent on-duty rate, thanks to government support," said Rong Guang, director of government and public affairs of Wilo Group.

"Going forward, China will become another major market for Wilo. The performance of Wilo China will enhance the group's confidence in the market, leading to more investment and business in the country," Rong said.

He said the company's businesses were on a steady track despite COVID-19 challenges. Wilo Group is a Germany-based pump and pump systems manufacturer for water supply and air conditioning technology.

Backed by satisfaction with market performance and supportive policies, foreign companies in Beijing are accelerating the resumption of work and production with a majority running at full capacity, showing their strong confidence in business development this year, according to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform.

Rong said: "Although the COVID-19 pandemic brought certain difficulties in production and operations, the company went through the challenges with the support from governments at all levels."

"The Shunyi district government officials helped us to coordinate permits to use trucks, ensuring smooth factory production. The China-Germany Industrial Park, where our company is based, helped us obtain COVID-19 antigen tests."

The China-Germany Industrial Park is a major facility built with the aim of promoting cooperation between Chinese and German companies.

In December, the industrial park sent a team to Germany and established ties with over 20 companies in the European country.

Hao Lijie, deputy director of the industrial park's management committee, said many German companies have shown interest in visiting the China-Germany Industrial Park and expressed willingness to cooperate.

"It has laid a good foundation to deepen exchanges. The industrial park will actively expand its influence in Germany and explore more new opportunities for industrial cooperation between the two countries," Hao said.

Currently, the industrial park has promoted 40 China-Germany cooperation projects, with another 24 projects under discussion. It has also attracted more than 90 German companies, whose annual output surpassed 30 billion yuan ($4.4 billion) last year.

Medical equipment manufacturer Drager is located in the industrial park. It vowed to actively promote research and development and production in Beijing to better serve Chinese customers.

Drager's orders in 2021 totaled 460 million yuan, a year-on-year growth of 25 percent. Net sales reached 420 million yuan, up 12 percent from the previous year.

Beijing's advantages in high-end industries, the concentrated settlement of foreign firms' headquarters and R&D centers, and its opening-up policies and good business environment are all key factors attracting foreign players to invest in the city, according to the commission.

From January to November 2022, the capital city utilized $17.23 billion of foreign capital, an increase of 14.6 percent year-on-year, the commission said.

With optimized COVID-19 control measures, more foreign firms said they are bullish on this year's market performance.

France-based medical care company Sanofi said it will continue to expand its Beijing factory to enhance local production capacity and plans to introduce at least 20 innovative products to China by 2025.

In the first three quarters of 2022, Sanofi's revenue in China reached $2.3 billion, up 8.5 percent year-on-year.

Schneider Electric's factory in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area has also resumed production with 95 percent of workers on duty. It has completed the R&D of new-generation products and vowed to build a workshop producing core parts this year.

Going forward, the city will continue to attract more foreign-invested projects, with a focus on areas such as low-carbon development and the digital economy, the commission said.