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纽约时报 德国康采恩与美国作对扶持中国

(2023-04-23 10:37:10) 下一个

纽约时报:德国康采恩与美国作对扶持中国

发布:2023年04月23日 11:04来源:RFI 华语
 

据《柏林日报》报道,《纽约时报》指德国康采恩与美国作对,扶持中国。大众汽车和巴斯夫继续向中国市场挺进。这与美国孤立中国的战略背道而驰。

在美国试图孤立北京的时候,两家德国大公司继续在中国大手笔投资。《纽约时报》报道说,德国化公巨头巴斯夫宣布,计划向中国投资100亿欧元,建造一个新的化学生产综合体。这将与巴斯夫在路德维希港的巨大总部规模相当。而巴斯夫在中国已有30个基地。

与此同时,德国汽车制造商大众集团计划根据中国人的意愿调整其车型的功能。因此,该公司正在继续推行其 "在中国为中国 "的战略。报道称,这两家公司的努力与美国在经济上封锁中国的努力背道而驰。

巴斯夫首席执行官马丁-布鲁德穆勒(Martin Brudermüller)说,来自中国的收益使其集团能够抵消欧洲高能源价格和严格的环保措施带来的损失。"Brudermüller在其公司2月份的年度会议上说:"如果没有中国的业务,这里的必要重组就不可能如此实现“。他继续说:"请告诉我,在欧洲还有哪一项投资能让我们赚钱"。

据《纽约时报》报道,大众汽车公司的高管们 "私下 "表达了类似的看法。高昂的能源和劳动力成本导致大众汽车对在中国的销售有很大需求。他们说,这给欧洲的业务带来支持。与此同时,拜登政府承诺使美国更具竞争力,因此计划扩大美国的基础设施和生产。此外,不再就新的贸易协定进行谈判。

但德国仍然对与中国的贸易持开放态度。基尔地缘政治和经济倡议主任卡特琳-卡明(Katrin Kamin)说,联邦共和国在短期内将无法宽松与中国的关系。她看到的是手机和LED等技术产品,以及锂和稀土等原材料。"这方面的依赖性太强了"。

当美国寻求与中国“脱钩”,德国企业扩大在华投资

MELISSA EDDY  2023年4月13日
 
上汽大众在上海的新车停车场。大众汽车在中国拥有40多家工厂。
上汽大众在上海的新车停车场。大众汽车在中国拥有40多家工厂。 
 
华盛顿寻求斩断与北京的经济联系之际,德国经济的两个强大引擎——大众汽车和化工公司巴斯夫正在扩大对华巨额投资。
 
在中国已拥有逾40家工厂的大众汽车宣布了一项新举措,将按照中国客户的愿望定制车型,比如配备内置卡拉OK机等功能,并向当地的合作伙伴和生产基地投资数十亿美元。这是该德国汽车制造商去年推出的“在中国,为中国”战略布局的一部分。
 
在中国拥有30个生产基地的巴斯夫正在推进一项计划,将斥资100亿欧元(约合750亿元人民币)建设一个新化工生产基地,其规模将与巴斯夫位于路德维希港、占地约10平方公里的巨大总部园区相当。
 
在整个德国,高管们明白这种投资与美国在经济上孤立中国的努力背道而驰。他们给出的理由是,来自中国的营收对他们的企业在欧洲蓬勃发展至关重要。
 
巴斯夫首席执行官薄睦乐(Martin Brudermüller)表示,来自中国的收入让公司能够有效抵消欧洲的高能源成本和严格的环境保护法规带来的损失。
 
“如果没有中国的业务,在这里进行所需的重组会变得不可能,”薄睦乐在公司今年2月的年报会议上对记者说。“能说出一项我们能赚钱的欧洲投资项目吗?”
 
大众汽车的高管私下承认,这家汽车制造商也处于类似的困境。欧洲高昂的能源和劳动力成本使得该公司严重依赖来自中国的销售以帮助维持公司在欧洲的业务。
 
化工公司巴斯夫是德国经济的两大经济引擎之一。
化工公司巴斯夫是德国经济的两大经济引擎之一。 
 
现在,这种越来越密切的商业关系受到了德国政府的密切关注。几个月来,在总理朔尔茨的敦促下,德国政府各部正在轮流讨论一项政策提案,旨在调整德国与其最大贸易伙伴中国的关系。其目的是既要使德国在亚洲各地的关系多样化,以避免对中国进口的依赖,同时也要承认与中国做生意的重要性,从而达成某种平衡。
 
拜登政府承诺,通过扩大国内基础设施建设和制造业,而不是与中国谈判新的贸易协定来提高对华竞争力。德国的立法者和商界领袖已明确表示,他们与中国的关系更加微妙:在发展与其活跃贸易关系的同时,也要努力进入亚洲其他市场做好多元化发展。
 
德国的政策是在经历了艰难的一年后制定的,俄罗斯去年停止对德国输送天然气的做法提醒了立法者,依赖专制国家为本国的工业支柱提供必不可少的材料需要付出代价。就中国的情况而言,一个大问题是德国对其进口的依赖。
 
德国靠中国提供必要的技术产品,比如手机和LED,以及包括锂和稀土元素在内的原材料。这些原材料对于德国向清洁能源和交通工具转型的计划至关重要。
 
随着德国从战略角度思考未来与中国的往来,政府必须仔细考虑这种依赖关系,基尔地缘政治和经济倡议主任卡特琳·卡明说。在短期内减少德中贸易关系不是个合理的选项。
 
“短期内,德国不可能简单地放松与中国的关系,”卡明说。“德国的依赖性太大。”
 
“如果没有中国的业务,在这里进行所需的重组会变得不可能,”巴斯夫首席执行官薄睦乐在公司今年2月的年报会议上说。
“如果没有中国的业务,在这里进行所需的重组会变得不可能,”巴斯夫首席执行官薄睦乐在公司今年2月的年报会议上说。 
 
欧盟与中国的关系更为坎坷。2020年,中欧经过多年谈判后达成一项突破性的贸易和投资协议,但不到一年就被搁置,原因是北京对欧盟的立法者实施了制裁,因为他们批评了中国对待维吾尔族的做法。该协议本来为双方企业在对方地盘上开展业务提供了便利。
 
上周,作为“重新平衡”与中国经济关系努力的一部分,欧盟委员会主席冯德莱恩与法国总统埃马克龙一起访问北京。冯德莱恩呼吁重启贸易谈判,但也指出了谈判障碍,例如中国给国内制造商提供的支持以及对外国公司的限制。
 
“中国是一个重要的贸易伙伴,但欧洲企业在那里面临许多歧视性障碍,”冯德莱恩在北京与欧盟中国商会举行了会议后说。“欧洲公司可以为中国提供很多东西。但它们在投资和提供他们的商品和服务方面,得有一个公平的竞争环境。”
 
她告诉记者,访华期间与中国领导人习近平会晤时,他们没有讨论已经搁浅的贸易协议。
 
中德去年的双边贸易额达2979亿欧元,中国已经连续七年是该国的最大贸易伙伴。但德国对中国的贸易逆差越来越大,而疫情导致供应链中断让这种趋势又进一步恶化。去年,德国从中国的进口增长了33%,达1910亿欧元,而对中国的出口仅增长了3%,为1070亿欧元。
 
德国车企在中国的销量约占总产量的三分之一,高于在整个西欧的销量。
德国车企在中国的销量约占总产量的三分之一,高于在整个西欧的销量。 
 
长期主导德中贸易关系的一个领域是汽车工业。包括宝马和梅赛德斯-奔驰在内的德国车企在华销量约占总产量的三分之一,高于在整个西欧的销量。但最近的数据显示,德国人似乎正在失去对中国市场的控制,尤其是国产电动车的受欢迎度大增的情况下。
 
据德国商业日报《商报》报道,汽车保险登记记录显示,去年在中国销售的所有电动车中,只有2.4%是大众汽车制造的,而宝马和梅赛德斯制造的甚至连1%都不到。相比之下,德国品牌继续主导中国的内燃机汽车市场,但这种汽车的受欢迎度正在让位于电动车。也许令人不安的是,比亚迪和蔚来等中国品牌电动车正在进入德国市场,对德国本土的车企构成威胁。
 
去年9月接任大众汽车首席执行官仅数月后,奥利弗·布鲁姆就花了几周时间访问中国,他回国后发誓要加强大众汽车在中国的合作伙伴关系,这清楚地表明了他的优先事项。“为了倾听中国地区客户的意见,我们必须与当地合作伙伴更紧密地合作,”布鲁姆在公司上个月的年度财报会议上告诉记者。“这将是2030年战略的一部分。”
 
欧盟委员会主席冯德莱恩和法国总统马克龙上周在北京与中国领导人习近平举行会晤。
欧盟委员会主席冯德莱恩和法国总统马克龙上周在北京与中国领导人习近平举行会晤。
 
基尔研究所的一项研究表明,虽然与中国脱钩对整个欧洲来说代价都非常高,但考虑到德中经济关系的紧密程度,对德国来说代价将尤其高。该研究所用2019年的国内生产总值计算得出,德国可能损失逾1310亿欧元的收入。如果中国进行报复,损失可能更大。
德国政府想避免另一轮经济动荡——俄罗斯全面发动入侵乌克兰的战争引发了与德国的能源战,使该国失去了价格合理的天然气供应。朔尔茨的经济顾问约尔格·库基斯在德美贸易领袖的一次聚会上表示,这将意味着德国要继续平衡经济利益与国家安全担忧。
“我们希望对中国采取积极的做法,”库基斯说。“而不是反华的做法。”

Melissa Eddy是一名驻柏林记者,报道德国政治、社会和文化议题。她于1996年作为富布莱特学者来到德国,此前在法兰克福、维也纳和巴尔干半岛在美联社供职。欢迎在TwitterFacebook上关注她。

 

As U.S. Tries to Isolate China, German Companies Move Closer

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/12/world/europe/germany-china-trade.html

Some are expanding in China, reluctant to leave a huge market they need to finance operations back home.

 

Rows of cars line a huge lot.

The holding lot of the Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corporation-Volkswagen joint venture in Shanghai. Volkswagen has more than 40 plants in China.Credit...Qilai Shen for The New York Times

 

As Washington seeks to throttle economic ties with Beijing, two powerful engines of the German economy, Volkswagen and the chemical company BASF, are broadening their huge Chinese investments.

Volkswagen, which has more than 40 plants in China, announced a new effort to tailor models to Chinese customers’ wishes, with features like in-dash karaoke machines, and will invest billions in local partnerships and production sites. It’s part of a theme unveiled by the German automaker last year: “In China for China.”

BASF, with 30 production facilities in China, is pushing ahead with plans to spend 10 billion euros ($10.9 billion) on a new chemical production complex that would rival in size its massive headquarters complex in Ludwigshafen, which covers about four square miles.

Throughout Germany, executives are aware such investments run contrary to efforts by the United States to isolate China economically. They counter that revenue from China is essential for their businesses to thrive and grow in Europe.

Martin Brudermüller, BASF’s chief executive, said earnings from China allowed the company to effectively offset losses from Europe’s high energy costs and stringent environmental rules.

“Without the business in China, the necessary restructuring here would not be so possible,” Mr. Brudermüller told reporters at his company’s annual earnings conference in February. “Name me just one investment in Europe where we could make money.”

Executives at Volkswagen privately concede the automaker is in a similar quandary. High energy and labor costs have left the company heavily reliant on sales from China to help underwrite operations in Europe.

BASF, based in Ludwigshafen, Germany, plans to spend €10 billion on a new chemical production complex in China. Credit...Laetitia Vancon for The New York Times

Now ever-closer business ties are coming under scrutiny in Berlin. For months, at the urging of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a policy proposal has been making the rounds of German ministries aiming to reset the country’s relationship with China, its largest trade partner. The aim is to strike a balance between diversifying Germany’s ties throughout Asia to avoid dependence on Chinese imports, while acknowledging the importance of doing business with China.

The Biden administration has pledged to make the United States more competitive with China by expanding American infrastructure and manufacturing, rather than negotiating new trade deals. German lawmakers and business leaders have made clear that their relationship with China is more nuanced: open to vigorous trade while trying to diversify into other Asian markets.

It is a policy being developed after a bruising year when Russia shut down natural gas shipments to Germany, a move that reminded lawmakers of the costs of relying on autocratic nations for materials essential to its industrial backbone. In the case of China, a big problem is Germany’s dependence on its imports.

Germany depends on China to provide essential technology products, including mobile phones and LEDs, as well as raw materials, including lithium and rare earth elements. These are critical to Germany’s plans to make a transition to cleaner energy and transportation.

Such a reliance must be carefully considered as Germany thinks strategically about its future dealings with China, said Katrin Kamin, a director of the Kiel Initiative in Geopolitics and Economics. Reducing its ties anytime soon is not a reasonable option.

“Germany will not be able to simply relax its relations with China in the short term,” Ms. Kamin said. “The dependencies are too great for that.”

“Without the business in China, the necessary restructuring here would not be so possible,” Martin Brudermüller, BASF’s chief executive, said at his company’s annual earnings conference.Credit...Ronald Wittek/EPA, via Shutterstock

The European Union has had a bumpier relationship with China. A breakthrough trade and investment deal between the bloc and China, a product of years of talks that was approved in 2020, was shelved less than a year later, after Beijing imposed sanctions on E.U. lawmakers for criticizing China’s treatment of its Uyghur population. The deal would have made it easier for companies to operate on one another’s territory.

Last week, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, traveled to Beijing with President Emmanuel Macron of France as part of an effort to “rebalance” economic ties with China. She called for the revival of talks about trade, but pointed out stumbling blocks like the support China offers its domestic manufacturers and the restrictions it places on foreign companies.

“China is a crucial trade partner, but E.U. businesses face many discriminatory hurdles,” Ms. von der Leyen said after meetings with organizations in Beijing. “European companies have so much to offer China. But they need a level playing field to invest and provide their goods and services.”

She told reporters that the stalled trade deal was not discussed in talks with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, during the trip.

With foreign trade sales of €297.9 billion last year, China has been Germany’s biggest trading partner for seven years in a row. But Germany’s trade deficit with China has grown increasingly lopsided, a trend that worsened during the supply chain disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Last year, imports from China expanded by a third, to €191 billion, while exports grew only 3 percent, to €107 billion.

German automakers sell roughly a third of all vehicles they produce in China, exceeding sales in all of Western Europe.Credit...Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

One area where Germany has long dominated ties with China is the automobile industry. German automakers, including BMW and Mercedes-Benz, sell roughly a third of all vehicles they produce in China — exceeding sales in all of Western Europe. But recent data shows that Germans appear to be losing their grip on the Chinese market, especially as the popularity of domestically produced electric vehicles surges.

Auto insurance registration records show that only 2.4 percent of all electric vehicles sold in China last year were made by Volkswagen, while BMW and Mercedes failed to crack even 1 percent, according to the German business daily Handelsblatt. By comparison, German brands continue to dominate the Chinese market for combustion engine vehicles, but their popularity is giving way to E.V.s.

Perhaps ominously, Chinese electric brands, such as BYD and Nio, are entering the German market, posing a threat to German automakers on their home territory.

In a clear sign of his priorities, within months of taking over as the chief executive of Volkswagen in September, Oliver Blume spent weeks touring China and returned vowing to strengthen his company’s partnerships there.

“We have to cooperate much more closely with our local partners in order to listen to the customers in the Chinese region,” Mr. Blume told reporters at the company’s annual earning meeting last month. “This will be part of a strategy for 2030.”

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, and President Emmanuel Macron of France met with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, in Beijing last week.Credit...Pool photo by Ludovic Marin

study by the Kiel Institute showed that decoupling from China would be very costly for all of Europe, but especially Germany, given the strength of its economic ties. Calculations by the institute, based on gross domestic product from 2019, showed that Germany could lose income worth more than €131 billion. And it could be even more if China retaliated.

Berlin would like to avoid another round of the upheaval it experienced after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, leading to an energy war that cost Germany its affordable supply of natural gas. That will mean continuing to balance economic interests with security concerns, Jörg Kukies, an economic adviser to Mr. Scholz, told a gathering of German and American trade leaders.

“We want to have a positive approach to China,” Mr. Kukies said. “Not an anti-China approach.”

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