Sino-European ties are being given a very 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, 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 town's availability of land and good transport links were pivotal in a decision by a Chinese investor to set up the Europe China Trading Hub there. It is an exhibition center that will allow European buyers to inspect Chinese imports before placing bulk orders shipped from China. Construction of the center, which will cost 1.4 billion euros ($1.85 billion), is due to begin late next year or early in 2015.

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

"The local authority is very supportive of it, as its construction will create a lot of jobs, and also leave many permanent jobs after construction has ended," he says.

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.

"Governments can provide some assistance, too, by contributing financially. At first it was about friendship, language and cultural exchange, but step by step it is changing to economic integration, which is now more important."

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.

Services provided include advice on legal matters, tax, real estate and the environment.

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.

The office is playing an important role in drawing Chinese investment, he says, supported by China Welcome Offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

About 150 kilometers northeast of Mons, in Eindhoven in the Netherlands, is an example of one of many European local governments that have signed friendship agreements with Chinese regions that have complementary characteristics.

Eindhoven initially established close ties with Nanjing because the electronics company Philips had a joint venture in the city.

In 2011, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the friendship, Eindhoven built a park in Nanjing named after the artist Vincent van Gogh. In return, Nanjing will build a Chinese pavilion in Eindhoven, and construction is expected to start this year.

About 250 km northeast of Eindhoven, in Oldenburg, Germany, is an office similar to the one in Mons that has been there for almost six years.

"The office is a platform for contacts and cooperation agreements, for projects within China, but also for investors and tourists from China and Asia who are interested in Oldenburg," says Wang Yu, head of the office.

The city is highly active in forging new contacts and partnerships with China, Wang says, and one of the six languages in which its official website is available is Chinese.

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

The city and its businesses, science and culture have a lot to gain in the relationships being expanded, Wang says.

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.

In Poland many regions are going all out to attract Chinese investment, unwilling to play second fiddle to their European cousins to the west.

The central province of Lodzkie 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.

The train halves the usual 28 days that it normally takes to ship goods from China to Europe, a service that many multinational brands, including Dell and Procter & Gamble, are said to be using.

Further east, the province of Podkarpackie is working closely with Guangxi province to support bilateral trade and investment. The Podkarpackie government has also supported some local kindergartens to offer Mandarin classes.

The efforts of Polish local governments are being boosted by the European Parliament's delegation for relations with China, a group of Members of the European Parliament drawn from countries across the European Union, established in 1979.

In March, four Polish MEPs in the group led a conference in Brussels to help Polish local governments promote themselves to Chinese businesses.

At the conference, representatives of many Polish local governments spoke of their plans, including Lodzkie, Podkarpackie, Swietokrzyskie province and Mazowieckie province.

"We wanted to make Polish local governments known to Chinese companies, so that Chinese companies looking to set up new offices in Poland know who to contact," says Pawel Bienkowski, assistant to Wojciech Olejniczak, one of the MEPs who initiated the conference.

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

(China Daily 04/19/2013 page16)