{"id":321030,"date":"2025-08-05T23:24:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T23:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/321030\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T23:24:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T23:24:17","slug":"frances-struggling-factories-need-investment-is-china-the-answer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/321030\/","title":{"rendered":"France\u2019s struggling factories need investment. Is China the answer?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This year marks half a century of formal diplomatic relations between China and the European Union as well as the 25th anniversary of the founding of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China. This piece, the third of a <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/politics\/series\/3319219\/china-eu-relations-50?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"noopener\">series of reports<\/a> examining ties between the two powers, looks into attitudes towards Chinese investment in France.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Born and raised in the central French town of Ch\u00e2teauroux, Laurent Joly has spent his entire life working in local factories.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Throughout his 38-year career, Joly likely never thought that one day China would have a significant impact on his life, let alone that his job would be saved by a Chinese company.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">But that is precisely what happened when Joly\u2019s employer \u2013 the French automotive supplier Groupe M\u00e9canique D\u00e9coupage (GMD) \u2013 was acquired by the Suzhou-based Dongshan Precision Manufacturing (DSBJ) in May.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The deal will allow the struggling French industrial group to keep the lights on at its 15 factories in France, with DSBJ pledging not to make any job cuts for a year and to maintain at least 80 per cent of the company\u2019s 1,800-strong French workforce the year after, according to Joly.<\/p>\n<p>Chinese investors often face intense public scrutiny in France due to <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/diplomacy\/article\/3317721\/eu-boosts-china-de-risking-efforts-plans-regain-control-key-sectors?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"noopener\">geopolitical concerns<\/a>, but the GMD acquisition shows how China could play a crucial role in reinvigorating the French and European manufacturing sectors by providing much-needed capital, industry insiders and analysts said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This year marks half a century of formal diplomatic relations between China and the European Union as well&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321031,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[3801,11330,33793,1395,116252,44976,116253,2000,299,1699,36,34982,116254,116256,116255,14882],"class_list":{"0":"post-321030","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-beijing","9":"tag-brussels","10":"tag-cgt","11":"tag-china","12":"tag-chinese-electric-vehicles","13":"tag-citi","14":"tag-dsbj","15":"tag-eu","16":"tag-europe","17":"tag-european-union","18":"tag-france","19":"tag-french","20":"tag-gmd","21":"tag-groupe-mecanique-decoupage","22":"tag-laurent-joly","23":"tag-national-rally"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114978741486205318","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}