Germany's leading luxury automaker Mercedes-Benz has continued to increase its investment in China as the enormous market remains committed to opening up wider to the world.
Despite increasingly fierce competition in the Chinese auto industry, Mercedes-Benz announced last month that, together with its Chinese partners, it would invest an additional 14 billion yuan (1.99 billion U.S. dollars) into the Chinese market, increasing its product portfolio in the country.
The German automaker established its first joint-venture Beijing Benz with BAIC Motor in August 8, 2005.
Mercedes and its Chinese partners invested a total of more than 100 billion yuan (about 14 billion U.S. dollars) in China between 2014 and 2023.
Over the past two decades of localization, the operations of Mercedes-Benz in China have become more and more mature, said Ola Kallenius, chairman of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG.
"When we started expanding our operations here more than 20 years ago, in the beginning, it was a lot about the market. And then, it was about production capacity and building up plants here in China together with our partner, of course creating jobs, building up the supply chain. But more and more, it's now every aspect of running an automotive company," he said.
Fu Yuwu, honorary chairman of the China Society of Automotive Engineers, recognized the benefit of globalization when talking about flourishing auto industry and rising foreign investment in China.
"We should recognize the benefit from globalization. It is just because of globalization that China has got integrated its auto industry into the world auto industry and become the most vibrant auto development arena in the world. In the meantime, transnationals have also entered China, so there have emerged a large number of joint ventures set up by transnationals and Chinese firms," Fu said.
Mercedes-Benz increases investment in China
Mercedes-Benz increases investment in China
The Chinese Embassy in South Africa on Monday held an event in Pretoria, the country's administrative capital, to celebrate the launch of the 2026 China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges.
This year also marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and African countries.
Chinese Ambassador to South Africa Wu Peng said that over the past seven decades, under the joint guidance of leaders from both sides, China-Africa people-to-people and cultural exchanges have continued to expand, yielding fruitful outcomes.
Noting that the world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, Wu said China and Africa need to uphold fairness and justice, strengthen solidarity and mutual assistance, and enhance exchanges and cooperation more than ever before.
Taking the launch of the China-Africa Year of People-to-people Exchanges as an opportunity, Wu called for upholding the original aspiration of friendship, solidifying the foundation of cooperation, enhancing two-way efforts, and accelerating the building of an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.
Mmapaseka Steve Letsike, South Africa's deputy minister of women, youth, and persons with disabilities, said South Africa and China enjoy strong and historic bonds of friendship as close international cooperation partners in the political, economic, social, technical and multilateral domains.
"The significance of people-to-people is really about how we elevate the people's life to a just and equitable stance that we want to see. We want a better Africa; we want a better world. And that for us is significant," said Letsike.
"Through people-to-people exchanges, we promote mutual understanding, and that is the basis of building mutual trust, building peaceful coexistence. People-to-people exchange is a very important instrument for peace and mutual understanding," said Bongani Maimele, director of international relations with South Africa's National School of Government.
The opening ceremony of the 2026 China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges was held at the African Union headquarters on Jan 8. According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the two sides will jointly host nearly 600 cultural and people-to-people exchange activities in 2026 to enhance exchanges and mutual learning between the two civilizations, and promote mutual understanding and connection between the peoples.
Organizing the 2026 China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges is an important consensus reached by leaders from both sides at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Beijing Summit in 2024.
Chinese Embassy in South Africa unveils 2026 China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges
