Wang Yuanyuan
SENIOR German diplomat Dr. Cyrill Nunn hoped the Shenzhen Daily s overseas edition could be distributed in Germany, providing information for Germans who want to do business in China or want to know more about China.
Nunn, director-general for Asian and Pacific Affairs of the German Federal Foreign Office, made the remarks when he and the German Consul General in Guangzhou Stefan Gallon visited the Shenzhen Daily on Friday.
He expressed his interest in distributing the Shenzhen Daily in Germany after learning that the Shenzhen Daily had overseas editions in the United States and Indonesia with a circulation of more than 80,000 copies.
On Friday, the China Daily, China s leading English-language newspaper, appeared as a new weekly edition on U.K. news stands, becoming the first English newspaper on the Chinese mainland to be distributed in European countries.
We identified a gap to provide a useful source of news and analysis to European businesses seeking to better understand and engage with China. As more partnerships develop between China and the West, it is crucial that there exists a regular source of insight on changing trends, said Zhi Renzhong, general manager of China Daily U.K.
Nunn was the third foreign diplomat to visit the Shenzhen Daily this year. The other two diplomats were Israeli Ambassador to China Amos Nadai and former German Consul General in Guangzhou Eberhard Schuppius.
Nunn was impressed with the achievements the Shenzhen Daily had made over the past 13 years, considering it an important source of information on what was going on in Shenzhen and China for foreigners living in Shenzhen.
After a short stop in Beijing, Nunn came to Shenzhen on Friday to meet with local company officials and German businesspeople and left for Hong Kong on Saturday.
The purpose of the trip was to have a better understanding of China, particularly South China regions, as well as a better understanding in the development, achievements and chances these regions had in business, politics, life and cultural areas, he said.
China and Germany have a very close relationship in the business area. Trade volume between the two countries reached about 160 billion euros (US$215 billion) this year. Two-thirds of the exports from European Union (EU) countries to China were from Germany, while one-third of the exports from China to the EU countries were going to Germany, so we want to have a better understating of the prospects in China for more cooperation between us, he said.
Nunn was particularly interested in issues such as the outlook of the region, government measures to curb inflation, China s strategy in going west and Shenzhen s cooperation with Hong Kong.
After a brief introduction to the development of higher education, Nunn was especially impressed with Shenzhen policies to introduce postgraduates from top universities in other parts of China to set up workshops at local companies and the city s high investments and strong measures in promoting research.
It can be seen that Shenzhen is now shifting its focus from mass production to pursuing excellence, which is very important for us, because Germany is a country always pursuing excellence. Every product we make follows lots of research and experimentation. Sharing the same goal, the two regions can find more areas to work together in the future, he said.
