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Germany’s largest automotive, chemical and transportation concerns,
such as Volkswagen, Siemens, BASF, Daimler and Bayer, are operating in
China. As part of this mutually positive cooperation, German corporations
have received orders for the construction of major infrastructural
projects in China, such as subway lines and sub-assemblies for nuclear
power plants. For instance, China purchased a license to construct a nuclear
reactor from Germany in 2009. In the period preceding the announcement of
the German energy transformation plans in 2011, Siemens had been active in
China; it had already established a joint venture company designing nuclear
reactors. Since 2011 Germany has been implementing an ambitious plan to
phase out nuclear energy and expand renewable energy installations at the
same time 39 . Fearing a loss of face on the German market, Siemens promised
to abandon its activities in the nuclear sector worldwide, although it cannot be
ruled out that it will continue delivering components to Chinese nuclear power
plants. The supply contracts are also attractive to smaller German producers,
which for instance sell nuclear fuel production devices or construct nuclear
reactor cooling towers 40 .
In China Germany has benefited from the high recognisability of German
brands and their good reputation. According to a survey commissioned in 2012
by the Globeone agency, 77% of middle-class respondents appreciate German
brands and consider their quality superior to products manufactured in China,
Japan and even the USA. It has been found that consumers do recognise
individual brands, but are not always aware that they are German brands. The
best known German brands are BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Siemens, Adidas and
Bayer 41 .
Recently China has tried to level the asymmetrical balance of its trade relations
with Germany. According to data compiled by the German agency Germany
Trade & Invest, in the last couple of years China has become one of the most
significant new investors in Germany, even though the accumulated scale of
the investments is still small. In 2011, 160 Chinese entrepreneurs decided to
expand their business to Germany. The second largest investor was the USA,
39
K. Popławski, Kontekst Gospodarczo-Energetyczny w Niemiecka transformacja energetyczna:
Trudne początki, A. Kwiatkowska-Drożdż (red.), Ośrodek Studiów Wschodnich, Warszawa
2012, p. 33.
40
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Country-Profiles/Countries-A-F/China--Nuclear-
Power/#.UbBvY5yyxuM
41
Chinesen mögen deutsche Marken, Finn Mayer-Kuckuk, Handelsblatt , 15 March 2012, p. 24.
PRACE OSW REPORT OSW 09/2012 11/2013
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