Investing in China brings opportunities to well-known European companies

In 1993, German company Kern-Liebers invested 500,000 German marks in Taicang, a city in east China's Jiangsu Province, embarking on its road of development in the foreign country with only six employees and a 400-square-meter factory house.

Three decades on, after 11 rounds of capital increases, the wire springs provider possesses factories spanning 70,000 square meters in the Chinese city and has witnessed an annual output value of 1.5 billion yuan (about 207.4 million U.S. dollars), accounting for the largest proportion of its global footprint.

"We have always felt strong support from the local government, and the difficulties and challenges we encountered were solved through our close cooperation," said Udo von Reinersdorff, chief financial officer of Kern-Liebers, at a roundtable held by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce last week in Stuttgart, Germany.

The event is one of an ongoing series of "Invest in China" roundtables that are touring European countries including Denmark, France and Italy. It has attracted a lot of well-known European enterprises from such fields as green energy, smart manufacturing, biomedicine, and high-end equipment manufacturing.

Participants shared their stories of vital investment in China and expressed their recognition of the Chinese government's efforts to facilitate the operations of foreign companies in the country, as well as their willingness to share future opportunities with the vibrant Chinese market.