American firms no longer see China as just a vast market, but as a place to build meaningful partnerships that are essential to their global competitiveness strategies, said Sean Stein, president of the U.S.-China Business Council.
Stein, a former U.S. diplomat with decades of experience serving the interests of American companies in China, has witnessed a dynamic transformation in the way these firms operate and how they view collaboration with local enterprises.
In an exclusive interview with CGTN, Stein said that joint ventures, once a requirement for foreign companies to operate in some industries, are increasingly being formed voluntarily.
"When I first started coming to China 25 years ago, I don't remember any American companies who would say, you know what, I sure love my joint venture partner. I am so glad I have a joint venture partner. You didn't hear that very often because the Chinese partner didn't have very much to add. Now what we see is, we see American companies who come to China, and they could do it alone, they could do it as a WFOE (wholly foreign-owned enterprise), but they're like, why would we do that? We see some great strength in Chinese companies. We want the right partner, whether it's a joint venture partner or strategic partner," said Stein.
"So we used to say that companies would come to China for the China market. And I now scold people because companies, yeah, they're here for the market, but that's not what's important today in 2026. They're here because, as we saw in our most recent survey, they're here because China is an important part of their global competitiveness," he said.
The business council president stressed that these partnerships are now indispensable for securing an edge in the worldwide marketplace.
"You can't look at all of the developments that are happening here and say, you know what, we're not going to take part of that and somehow remain competitive globally. So the real trend that we see, that our companies are talking about, that our board is talking about, that our CEOs are talking about, and when they talk to each other, it's how can we leverage what's happening in China, learn from it, partner with it, and use that to maintain and grow our competitiveness globally. So I think we now see a whole lot more cooperation between American and Chinese companies or between European and Chinese companies than maybe a decade ago or two decades ago," he said.
Joint ventures in China become crucial for competitiveness of American firms: US business leader
Far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) topped the vote in the state election in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, while the Left Party took the lead in Berlin, projections from broadcaster ARD showed on Sunday evening.
According to preliminary exit polls released by public broadcasters ARD and ZDF, the AfD won 37 to 38 percent of the vote in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, up sharply from the 16.7 percent it scored in the state's last election in 2021.
The Social Democrats (SPD) ran a close second at 35.5 to 36.5 percent, followed by the Left Party at 6 to 7.5 percent and the Greens at roughly 5.5 percent. Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) plunged to just 5 to 5.5 percent from 13.3 percent in 2021.
In Berlin, the Left Party led with 24.5 to 26 percent, a steep rise from the 12.2 percent it won in the city-state's last election in 2023. The CDU fell to around 20 percent from 28.2 percent, while the Greens took 15 to 15.5 percent, the AfD 13.5 to 16 percent and the SPD about 12 percent.
Both state parliaments serve five-year terms, and German state elections generally apply a threshold of 5 percent of the vote for a party to win seats. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the SPD has governed in coalition with the Left Party since the 2021 state election. In Berlin, the CDU and SPD formed the current government after a rerun in 2023, which was ordered after the city-state's 2021 election was declared invalid because of serious flaws in how the vote was organized and run.
The CDU, Merz's own party, fared badly in both states, with its support dropping markedly from the previous elections.
Addressing the results after the two ballots, Merz called them a disaster, saying the German economy was undergoing profound change, social debate was growing increasingly harsh and public trust in state institutions was eroding under the pressure of political extremes.
He said Germany needed to press ahead with reforms and that his federal government would take responsibility for driving them.
Sunday's ballots came just two weeks after the AfD won 43.8 percent in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt on September 6, finishing three seats short of an absolute majority. All major German parties continue to rule out forming a coalition with the far right, maintaining a long-standing political firewall that leaves the AfD with votes but no path to power.
Both elections drew close attention because they are taking place against a backdrop of a federal government under pressure, falling support for the established parties and the steady rise of the far right. German media have treated the two votes as a barometer for the mood in Berlin.
Recent surveys found only a small fraction of voters in either state optimistic about Germany's overall direction, with nearly 90 percent rating the federal government's work negatively. Rising prices, the economy and the broader cost of living dominated voters' concerns.
"Many parties have now made it clear that they are unwilling to work with the far-right party. Everything happening in politics at the moment leaves people with a sense of uncertainty -- and, of course, it is worrying to see such large numbers of voters turning to the right," said Haase, a local resident.
"You can see this trend in the elections across the country, including in the previous federal election. Germany is in turmoil, and people across the board feel dissatisfied," said Ralf, another resident.
For many in Germany, the elections reflected not only local political change but a wider realignment of the party landscape, a shifting public mood and the strains bearing down on the federal government. Attention now turns to which parties can assemble stable state governments and how that process feeds back into national politics.
Germany's Left Party wins Berlin election, far-right AfD takes Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
