The Ambassador of China made a recent visit to Andalusia, where he held several meetings of a commercial nature with businesspeople. The objective was not only to talk about the opportunities offered by the Chinese market for exports from this Autonomous Community of southern Spain.
China’s economic expansion has long exceeded its national borders. Always under strict state control, the business investments of the Yellow Giant are counted by millions around the world. They include traditional sectors such as oil exploration or mining; lately, they reach the media and football teams.
Outside of Asia it has become known under the Chinese WhatsApp denomination. An instant mobile messaging application, apparently similar to the US platform owned by Facebook. But although has some of this, it is also much more.
Not long ago, few would have bet that China would become the world leader in renewable energy, especially considering that the Asian giant based its economy on the exploitation of coal. But the high pollution of its cities (China has 8 out of the 10 cities in the world with the worst air quality), and international pressure caused by high carbon dioxide emissions, led the Asian giant to radically change its energy policy.
China represents a real business opportunity. It is the largest market-country in the world, with more than 1.379 million citizens. At the same time, it is the second important economy in the world, only behind the United States.
Entertainment, technology and the environment are some of the sectors in which Chinese investment in Europe is focused. In Spain, the numbers in 2016 reached 1,850 million euros.
The largest investment was focused in two sectors: urban cleaning services and football.
Chinese tourism in Spain is growing exponentially, as it does in the rest of the European Union. The Spanish tourist sector begins to put its focus on this type of potential tourist. One of the determining factors is the establishment of new direct air connections since 2017 between the airports of Madrid and Barcelona with the main Chinese cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guanzhou, Hong Kong, among others.
They are a symbol of prosperity. The skyscrapers in China are a symbol of a booming economy, solid as the foundation of these buildings.
They house important financial and business centres.
Football is a great link between China and Spain. For economic reasons, foreign policy and image, Asians have begun to be part of this sport.
The Spanish support is decisive in the aspirations of turning the Asian nation into a world football power before 2050.
