CATL, China's largest electric vehicle battery manufacturer, announced that it will spend 7.34 billion euros to build a factory in Hungary. Once completed, it may become the largest battery factory in Europe. Hungary said it would be the largest investment in the country's history. Some foreign media said that Hungary won the "biggest investment in history" because it "supported China". I have to say, this is a bit sour: I said "don't don't", but raised my ears to the investment trend of Chinese companies highly concerned.

Why Hungary can attract investment from CATL

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this is a perfectly normal business decision. Located in the heart of Europe, with a good industrial supporting foundation, Chinese enterprises going to Hungary are closer to European customers and can respond to customer needs in a timely manner. More importantly, Hungary provides Chinese companies with predictability in terms of policies and business environment. It is the first country in Europe to sign a memorandum of understanding on the Belt and Road cooperation with China, giving Chinese companies many preferential policies for investment. Therefore, the number of Chinese enterprises investing in Hungary in the past two years has continued to increase, and the investment scale has remained high. In 2021, the bilateral trade volume between China and Hungary will increase by 34.5% year-on-year. Not long ago, NIO announced to invest in the construction of its first overseas factory in Hungary. In June, Lenovo Group put into operation its first European production base in Hungary.

Some foreign media teased that Hungary, which has received huge investment, has been "long-term in the middle". With this time, it is better to deeply reflect on why the Ningde era's North American factory construction plan was suspended. The United States has been the country that attracts the most foreign investment for a long time. However, in the past few years, under the poisoning of pan-politicization and pan-security atmosphere, it has created many extremely bad precedents, allowing more and more excellent investment soil. turned into a minefield. For example, foreign high-tech companies are forcibly required to hand over their technology, and even "technical confiscation" of capital has made many people feel that Washington is about to "get it out". Just ask, if a company is always worried about its investment, "don't be confiscated one day" and "is my money wasted", can it still develop with peace of mind? According to U.S. media reports, CATL has been planning to build a factory in the United States for a long time, and has also inspected some places in the United States, but it is likely to choose Mexico as an alternative to building a battery factory in the end. It should be said that its doubts are also the doubts of many other companies.

Over the past few decades, China has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of economic globalization and one of the biggest contributors. Among them, the Chinese enterprises that continuously invest and expand their business overseas have contributed greatly. The establishment of CATL in Hungary is undoubtedly beneficial to the development of electric vehicles in Europe. For those "Atlantic factions" who interfere with pragmatic and rational cooperation or American and Western politicians who are obsessed with "value diplomacy", what we want to say is that these people should reflect on and review, and they should no longer view the investment of Chinese companies with special eyes. When a series of political provocations and decoupling and chain-breaking behaviors continue to deteriorate bilateral mutual trust and cooperation, no company in the world will “deliver it to the door” and risk becoming the next target of brutal suppression and suppression. If such political measures are used to restrict economic behavior, it will only run counter to the general trend of economic globalization. This principle could not be simpler.

CATL chose Hungary to build a factory this time, which is not only a case but also a phenomenon with universal and inspiring significance. As some forces in Europe and the United States are increasingly clamoring to examine Chinese investment from a political perspective, Budapest insists on being rational and pragmatic, not blindly following, and does not allow its own national interests to be kidnapped by others’ political motives, and therefore bear unnecessary costs. The stability of its investment environment And predictability also pays off. Hungary's ambassador to China said Hungary was proud to be the "main entry point" for large Chinese companies to enter the European continent. The healthy and stable China-EU relations and China-EU economic and trade relations are not only beneficial to both China and the EU, but also to the world. The two sides should meet each other halfway to enhance economic and trade cooperation, which also includes providing more "entry points" for more Chinese enterprises to enter Europe, and connect the dots. Editor / Xu Shengpeng