Siemens Executive Says China Now Offers Better Opportunity

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, March 23, 2002

Siemens Executive Says China Now Offers Better Opportunity

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A senior Siemens executive said Friday in Singapore that China now offers better opportunity for foreign companies with its entry into WTO and the most advantage for foreign companies in China is its powerful resources of people.

"Opportunity for our company is getting better in China after its entry into WTO, with tariffs cut, import tax lower and setting-up of companies easier," Siegfried Schmidt, senior vice presidentof Siemens Ltd. China, and Siemens Automation & Drives Group, said Friday when he was attending a seminar held here under the title of "Emerging China: Strategy to Ride on China's Growth Engine."

The interview was made after he gave an presentation on his experiences in China at the seminar, one of the Network China Seminar Series organized by Network China, the Singapore Trade Development Board.

"Foreign companies have advantages in competition and will bring pressure on Chinese companies," Schmidt said, adding "foreign companies should consider more the impact on Chinese companies."

Schmidt also said that the biggest impression he has got in his work of the past eight years in China is about people, his colleagues and customers.

"I am very much impressed by the knowledge, the attitude and the eagerness of Chinese people to improve their knowledge, attitude and their behavior," he said.

Commenting on China's achievement in human resources development, Schmidt said: " In 1995 you needed a lot of experts coming from Singapore, Hong Kong and those who studied abroad. But now China has developed powerful resources of people and you do not need anymore so much from outside."

"The Chinese youngsters are more professional than five years ago," he emphasized.

Schmidt also stressed that China has done a lot to create stable investment environment, to attract and protect investments.

"China has developed many special zones and this is not so decisive. What is most important is that China has done a lot to make investment environment stable, to attract people to invest in China and to protect their investments," he underlined, adding "this will be increased after China's entry into WTO."

On major challenges facing China's factories in the machinery industry, Schmidt said "Clearly quality. First of all quality," noting "some Chinese factories are at stage of competing in the world and generally there are much have to be done for others to reach this level."

"China must raise its quality and productivity of its machinery to become an international player and to be able to compete in the world market."

Touching on solution on this problem, he said "On one hand you need more talent people and on the other you must maximize automation which creates jobs and does not kill jobs."

Automation may bring down operating jobs but will create jobs of higher level such as personnel for engineering, maintenance, services, he elaborated.

He expressed his belief that China will getting better and his company will also getting better in China. Siemens now has 50 joint ventures China.

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