Over the course of four decades, China has undergone unfathomable change: from the early reform years of the 1980s to the boom years of the 2000s and to the increasingly politicised atmosphere of the late 2010s and the recent Covid-19 lockdowns. 

Jörg Wuttke, who stepped down as president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China in May, reflects on his time in China since the “dark ages” when he first arrived in 1982, and why the financial crisis of 2008 changed the name of the game for foreign investors in China.

“Back in the early 1980s, everyone was wearing blue jackets [traditional Chinese workwear] and I remember people took pictures of me standing next to an old Shanghai car model because they couldn’t believe there was a car on the streets of Beijing. Now, there are five million cars in the city,” he says in an interview with fDi.

Early years

Between 1988 and 1990, Mr Wuttke worked as the finance and administration manager of European industrial group ABB’s division in Beijing. Between 2001 and 2004, he was the chairman of the German Chamber of Commerce in China. He was one of the founders of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China and president from 2007 to 2010, 2014 to 2017 and 2019 to 2023.

“The reason why we founded the European chamber in 2000 was that China was aiming at joining the World Trade Organization at this time and it looked as if China was committing to globalisation. We wanted to set up a complementary organisation to the national chambers, which are more focused on trade promotion,” he says. “We are the advocacy heavy-hitters.”

But, according to Mr Wuttke, Chinese officials became wary of the Western financial system in the wake of the financial crisis. He recalls a conversation with Liu Mingkang, former chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, who asked him how it was that the West’s own financial system was imploding. This, Mr Wuttke says, led to a loss of faith in the “reform” mentality of earlier years, which has prevailed since.

No need for foreigners 

“Economically the country was always growing, but after the crisis, we foreigners were left behind a little bit. Now, it’s a sad story that the top 10 European businesses in China represent 80% of European investment in the country,” he explains. “[The Chinese government] felt like they didn’t need us anymore. They started cherry-picking companies: a couple of car companies, a couple of chemicals companies. But otherwise if you’re not helping China move forward, you’re not part of the game.” 

This can be seen in the recent decision by the Chinese government to ban operators of its critical infrastructure from using US chipmaker Micron’s products.

Mr Wuttke’s resignation from the presidency follows that of Ker Gibbs, the former president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, in 2021.

When asked if we are to see more chamber departures of this kind, Mr Wuttke says that these presidencies are revolving positions, but admits that there is now a dwindling number of expats in China. “The bench is getting thinner, with fewer people available for these positions,” he explains, adding that there are questions over whether “Chinese officials are actually listening to us”.

During a recent trip to Washington, he remarked on how much more hopeful German companies are about investing in the US thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act. It so happens that Mr Wuttke is also considering a move to the US, having been approached for several jobs. “I want to keep my kids in the English school system and I don’t think I’m ready to go back to Germany just yet,” he says.

This article first appeared in the June/July 2023 print edition of fDi Intelligence