BMW's top executive applauds cooperation

Cooperation, instead of decoupling, creates prosperity, said Oliver Zipse, chairman of the board of management of BMW AG, on Sunday at the China Development Forum.

"Just as BMW's investment creates jobs in China, (Chinese battery maker) CATL's investment brings prosperity to Europe," he said.

Zipse said the German premium carmaker has invested over 83 billion yuan since 2010 in its production base in Shenyang, capital of Northeast China's Liaoning province, where its joint venture BMW Brilliance is based.

"China is the BMW Group's largest single market and one of its most strategic. Our largest R&D operations outside of Germany are in China," he said.

Besides BMW Brilliance, the German carmaker also has a joint venture with China's largest SUV maker Great Wall Motors.

The joint venture, called Spotlight, will produce electric models from the Chinese marque and BMW's Mini brand, and they will be sold in China and overseas markets.

Zipse said he is very optimistic about the future of Spotlight, calling it "a perfect example" of how Sino-German partnerships can be symbiotic and generate win-win-results.

"Chinese modernization is a global opportunity," he said, adding that the tremendous undertaking creates global-scale innovation and sustainable technology but also builds bridges and sends a strong signal of multilateral cooperation.

Zipse's trip to attend the China Development Forum has been his second one to the country within six months.

The German executive was a member of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's delegation to the world's No 2 economy in November 2022.