Sino-Belgian ties power with expanded cooperation

Trade volume between China and European nation exceeded $28.2 billion during the first three quarters of 2021

Future business ties between China and Belgium will be enriched by trade and diversified cooperation in areas including new energy, modern logistics, digital innovation, high-end manufacturing and trade in services, said experts and business leaders.

Despite economic growth being disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic since last year, the degree of interdependence between the two countries remains stable in bilateral trade, said Liang Ming, director of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation's Institute of International Trade.

Trade volume between China and Belgium amounted to $28.2 billion in the first three quarters of this year, soaring 41.6 percent on a year-on-year basis, according to data from the General Administration of Customs.

China exports mainly construction machinery, computers, manufacturing equipment, steel, electronics, textiles, garments and household appliances to Belgium. Besides chemical, mechanical and electrical products, transport equipment, plastics and rubber, Belgium's exports to China also include medical equipment, foodstuffs, precise instruments and products made from precious metals.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Cao Zhongming, the Chinese ambassador to Belgium, said China and Belgium have adhered to free trade and an open global economy, welcomed each other's companies and people, and actively carried out practical cooperation in various fields.

These qualities help drive development through cooperation.

Despite the pandemic, economic and trade cooperation between the two countries grew in 2020 with Belgium's investment in China hitting a historically high growth rate of 210 percent.

Belgium not only ships its consumer goods such as chocolate, beer and diamonds to the Chinese market, but also promotes high-tech industries such as biomedicine, microelectronics, energy conservation and environmental protection to boost China's high-quality growth, Cao said.

"And China is no longer just exporting small commodities to Belgium," he added.

"Its emerging industries, digital economy and modern logistics are driving the upgrading of industries in Belgium."

"China will continue to export consumer goods, telecommunications equipment and electric vehicles in exchange for Belgium's high-tech products such as optical devices, industrial parts and medical equipment, as well as high-end jewelry, in the coming years," said Ren Xingzhou, a research fellow at the Institute of Market Economy, which is part of the Development Research Center of the State Council, China's Cabinet.

"Most of their imports are complementary. Therefore it isn't direct competition," Ren said.

In addition to growing trade volume, she said China's ongoing consumption and industrial upgrading boom has also attracted more Belgian investment to China in many commercial areas such as food and beverage, smart manufacturing and smart city projects, digital economy and retail sectors in recent years.

With China striving to achieve peak carbon emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060, Budweiser Brewing Co APAC Ltd－a subsidiary of Belgium-headquartered beverage and brewing company AB InBev－will push its Wuhan plant to become AB InBev's first carbon-neutral brewery by the end of this year. While expanding its production capacity in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province and Putian, Fujian province, the company will also invest in energy conservation and environmental protection including water-saving, electricity-saving, energy-saving and waste treatment in China in the coming years. That's according to Jan Craps, co-chair and CEO of Budweiser APAC.

Thanks to Chinese consumers' surging demand for beer products, the growth of the stay-at-home economy and the recovery of the service sector as well as the dual-circulation development paradigm, Budweiser APAC saw double-digit sales growth in the first half of fiscal year 2021, while the growth in its premium and super premium segments rose 9.7 percent and 17.6 percent on a yearly basis.

Backed by major regional transportation hubs such as Port of Antwerp and Liege Airport in Belgium, and Shanghai Pudong International Airport and Ningbo-Zhoushan Port as well as the fast-growing China-Europe freight train service, the tangible growth of the Belt and Road Initiative will create more momentum for the two countries to reinforce their business ties in the next stages, said Wei Xiaoquan, a researcher specializing in regional economic development at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.

Eager to enhance their earnings strength, Lingang Group, the largest industrial park developer in Shanghai, worked with Belgian partner Port of Zeebrugge to build an industrial park in Belgium in July this year.

With an investment of 50 million euros ($58.03 million), the first phase of the project covers 15 hectares of land, where Lingang will build 76,000 square meters of logistics warehouses and 22,000 sq m of container yards.