China-EU relationship Photo: VCG

European companies are still heavily betting on China, and they emphasized that their strategy for the Chinese market will not change, a sharp contrast with some politicians who questioned Chinese business climate and attempted to push for "de-risking" from China.   

Those companies, ranging from industrial manufacturing to vehicle production, hold solid confidence in China and voice strong optimism about the development of the second-largest economy. They said they will deeply cultivate the Chinese market, with efforts such as increasing investment and hiring more staff. 

Chinese experts said that Europe has no more ideal choice than China, given the current global economic downturn, and the close trade connection between China and Europe has exceeded the expectations of many European politicians who push the concept of a so-called "de-risking" campaign.

"Even if sometimes there is some political pressure, we have been here in China for a long time, and I think we will not change our policy and our strategy," Pascal Daloz, CEO of French industrial software company Dassault Systemes, told the Global Times in a group interview on Tuesday.

"Our employee numbers in China have tripled in the past four years, and the ecosystem members in China currently exceed 4,000, and we plan to add to 10,000 people in the next three years," Daloz said. 

"Our sales target in China is to realize an increase of 30 percent to 1 billion euros ($1.06 billion) in 2026, and we are confident in it," he added. 

Dassault is not alone, and the vast Chinese market is also a promising land for car producers from Europe. 

"The orders we have received for Revuelto, the model we just released a few months ago, have already covered the production capacity for the entire next year, and the production schedule for the orders received now has been extended to mid-2025," said Konstantin Sychev, managing director of Automobili Lamborghini Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao, in an interview with the Global Times. 

Lamborghini set a new global sales record last year, and its sales performance in the Chinese market also reached a new high, he added. 

"The Chinese market is very large and full of changes and vitality. Our company has always paid close attention to the development of the Chinese market to better meet the needs of Chinese consumers," he said. 

The bullish confidence in China of European companies comes against the background of the EU talking about "de-risking" on various occasions for a long time. 

It officially launched the European Economic Security Strategy in June this year, which is essentially a systematic "de-risking" strategy.

China and the EU held a "pragmatic, candid and productive" economic and trade dialogue co-chaired by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and Executive Vice President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis in Beijing on Monday. The two sides reached a series of outcomes and consensus on macroeconomic policy coordination, industrial and supply chains cooperation, business environment improvement, the World Trade Organization reform, and two-way opening up and regulatory cooperation of the financial sector, a spokesperson of China's Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday.

However, Dombrovskis also criticized the Chinese business environment, saying it had left European companies struggling to understand their obligations and questioning their future in China, according to voanews.com.

Given the fact that Europe continues to adopt so-called political and security logic to interfere in economic activity, it has disrupted normal economic activity, and it is contradicted by the globalization of the world, Cui Hongjian, professor at the Academy of Regional and Global Governance of Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times on Tuesday. 

He said that trade between China and Europe is strongly connected, and Europe has no more ideal choice than China in the current global economic downturn.

Although the European side has begun to exaggerate the mutual competition between China and Europe in recent years, it is a fact that the mutual needs of both sides cannot be separated, and the attractions of the Chinese market, such as the stability of market policies and market returns, are obvious for many European companies and industries, Cui added.