The Sino-German Industrial Services Zone in the Shunde district of Foshan, Guangdong province, is developing into an important platform for comprehensive cooperation between the two countries, officials said at a recent expo.
The China (Guangdong) International Internet Plus Exposition was held in the Sino-German Industrial Services Zone last week, with a special focus on cooperation with Germany.
A conference titled Made in China 2025 Meets German Industry 4.0 on Sept 10 attracted more than 500 participants, who brainstormed opportunities in intelligent manufacturing and how to push forward the two national strategies.
The same day, the Sino-German Industrial City Alliance initiative was jointly launched by six Chinese cities and five German cities.
The initial members of the city alliance include Foshan, Jiangmen, Zhaoqing, Jieyang and Yunfu in Guangdong; Zhuzhou in Hunan province; as well as Bremen, Hannover, Wuppertal, Osnabruck and Aachen in Germany.
In addition, the Guangdong (Tanzhou) International Convention and Exhibition Center will be built in Shunde. The exhibition center will be operational in September next year.
The three events deepened Foshan's cooperation with Germany and Europe.
What they say
Lothar de Maiziere, former prime minister of the German Democratic Republic and consultant for Sino-German Industrial Services Zone:
The manufacturing industry of China has achieved great progress in the past 30 years but is still in the stage of making cheap, mid- to low-end products on a large scale. Although made-in-China products are sold around the world, China has realized the high risks of staying in that stage.
Therefore, China needs to learn from German Industry 4.0 to combine industrialization and customization with intelligent manufacturing technologies.
The Sino-German Industrial Services Zone in Foshan is promoting such cooperation. Foshan is small, clean and practical. It has an enviable opportunity to upgrade its manufacturing sector by cooperating with outstanding German enterprises.
Joschka Fischer, former vice chancellor and minister for foreign affairs of Germany:
Both “Made in China 2025” and “Industry 4.0” try to increase efficiency by optimizing the mode of production with information technologies and digitization. We can mitigate climate change by reducing power usage.
China is such a big country and it will create huge effects on the global climate if it saves energy by 1 percentage point. I strongly support my Chinese fellows to keep on innovating and increasing their efficiency of power and raw materials usage.
Besides technologies, professional talent is also very important. China hopes to manufacture high-quality products and those products can only be made by high-quality professionals. Not only engineers but also technicians have played a core role in the German manufacturing industry. I encourage China to improve college education with the vocational training system in Germany as a model.
Ou Bangmin, a member of the Standing Committee of Foshan CPC and Party chief of CPC committee and Shunde district and Party Chief of CPC Committee of Sino-German Industrial Services Zone:
It is a handshake between quantity and quality of the world’s industry when “Made in China 2025” meets “Industry 4.0”. China has a huge market and a large production output, while the German manufacturing industry is known for the high quality of its products.
Foshan is a representative of China’s manufacturing industry and hopes to enhance international cooperation. The Sino-German Industrial Services Zone, the Sino-German Industrial City Alliance and the partnership with Germany to build an exhibition center in Foshan are the platforms on which we hope to upgrade the city’s industry to international standard and help made-in-Foshan products and the city go global.