"SMEs should go global instead of just doing business at home, otherwise you would be sifted out. Overseas M&As could be a good way, " says Wang Jianfeng, president of the company. He says in 2009, when it first tried to sell auto parts overseas, the company met with many difficulties.

"It was impossible for Chinese SMEs to enter the overseas high-end auto and electronics industry then, but after we acquired a German company in 2011 the situation started to change," he says.

Long, the former vice-minister of commerce, says an important platform that will accelerate Chinese companies going global is the Belt and Road Initiative, a development strategy proposed by the Chinese government in 2013.

The initiative refers to the New Silk Road Economic Belt, which will link China with Europe through Central and Western Asia, and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which will connect China with Southeast Asian countries, Africa and Europe.

"The world needs China's investment. It is estimated that for infrastructure of countries along the Belt and Road to reach the global average level, at least $8 trillion in investment will be needed," he says.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, in 2015, Chinese companies invested $14.8 billion in 49 countries along the Belt and Road, a year-on-year increase of 18.2 percent.

Stephen Phillips, chief executive of the China-Britain Business Council, says the advantage of SMEs are that they are nimble and have entrepreneurial management teams good at seeking out opportunities.

"The SMEs are a very important part of the internationalizing process, and there's almost a subtitle of SMEs, that they are almost born to be global, so those that have got great technology, or very innovative, they can actually be international companies more or less from day one," he says.

chenyingqun@chinadaily.com.cn

( China Daily European Weekly 01/22/2016 page1)