HANGZHOU, April 7 (Xinhua) -- Nearly six months on, Benjamin Joithe, managing director of Mankiewicz China, still vividly recalls the opening ceremony of the company's largest production base globally, located in east China's Zhejiang Province.

On the day of this ceremony, Joithe hosted 50 global executives who had traveled thousands of miles to witness firsthand what China's development and vitality truly meant.

"Our business in China is growing rapidly, especially in the aviation and automotive sectors," said Joithe. The world-leading coating manufacturer has reported sustained sales growth in China over the years, fueled largely by the country's thriving high-end manufacturing.

As the outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) identifies emerging strategic industries to be nurtured, including new-generation information technology, new energy, robotics, and aviation and aerospace, German companies with deep roots in China are responding with concrete plans and fresh investment.

"We are confident of achieving steady growth in China. We look forward to seizing all growth opportunities over the next five years with our new plant in Zhejiang," Joithe told Xinhua.

Joithe's bullish view is shared by the majority of German companies operating in China. In its 2025/2026 business confidence survey, the German Chamber of Commerce in China said that 93 percent of respondents intend to remain engaged in the Chinese market. Around 65 percent said they are confident about China's economic development over the next five years.

German enterprise NEURA Robotics echoes this optimism, having established operations in Hangzhou, Zhejiang's capital city, last year.

The goals of high-quality development, further expanding high-standard opening up, and sharing opportunities with the rest of the world, set out in China's 15th Five-Year Plan, offer foreign-invested companies a more stable and promising environment for growth, said Yang Jun, CEO of NEURA Robotics (Hangzhou), in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

"NEURA clearly sees China's commitment and sustained efforts to further expand high-standard opening up and deepen bilateral investment with strong institutional support and industrial coordination," said Yang.

Observers believe that such optimism stems from China's evolution from a manufacturing center into a global hub and testing ground for technological innovation. Moreover, China's commitment to high-level opening up provides ample opportunities for foreign investors to engage in its industrial transformation, offering much-needed stability and predictability for multinationals.

Additionally, support from local authorities also encourages German companies to tap into China's market. Joithe told Xinhua that local authorities' readiness to address the needs of enterprises had helped them establish a second factory in China.

At Zhejiang's Pinghu Economic and Technological Development Zone, over 50 German enterprises reported a combined output of more than 1 billion U.S. dollars in 2025. This year, multiple companies have expressed their desire to invest further.

"We will improve our services for foreign enterprises, and look forward to even closer China-Germany cooperation in the next five years," said Mao Fangying, the official in charge of German investment at the zone.

Yang also credited NEURA's development to local support. The "robot town" in Xiaoshan District of Hangzhou, where NEURA has set up operations, is a specialized industrial platform built by the government to help international companies connect with local industries and participate in regional industrial upgrading, according to Yang.

Also, the entire city is proving to be a favorable destination for their business. "Hangzhou is one of the world's most dynamic cities for robotics R&D and application," said Yang.

The company plans to set up its "NEURA Gym" in the city, where engineers will teach humanoid robots to perform everyday tasks and advance technologies from prototype to application via collaboration with global partners.

Germany has remained China's largest trading partner and biggest source of foreign investment in Europe, and the two countries have achieved extensive industrial integration.

China's appeal to German companies continues to strengthen. Data from the German Economic Institute show that new German direct investment in China amounted to roughly 7 billion euros (8.08 billion dollars) in 2025, well above the approximately 4.5 billion euros recorded a year earlier.

In February 2026, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz led a high-level economic delegation of 30 business representatives on a visit to China, during which enterprises from both countries inked more than 10 business agreements spanning industries including the automotive, machinery, energy, logistics and finance sectors. ■