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Xiaofei Xu

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 series of reports examining ties between the two powers, looks into attitudes towards Chinese investment in France.
Born and raised in the central French town of Châteauroux, Laurent Joly has spent his entire life working in local factories.
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.
But that is precisely what happened when Joly’s employer – the French automotive supplier Groupe Mécanique Découpage (GMD) – was acquired by the Suzhou-based Dongshan Precision Manufacturing (DSBJ) in May.
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’s 1,800-strong French workforce the year after, according to Joly.
Chinese investors often face intense public scrutiny in France due to geopolitical concerns, 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.
We really did not mind whether the buyer was Chinese, French, or another foreign industrial group
Laurent Joly, GMD worker representative
“We really did not mind whether the buyer was Chinese, French, or another foreign industrial group,” Joly, the secretary of GMD’s employee committee and a representative for the labour union CGT, told the Post.
“What we cared about most was the industrial plan itself and, of course, the long-term future of the sites and the jobs. And if we can be complementary to DSBJ, I think it can really work.”
GMD, like many other automotive suppliers in Europe, has been impacted by an industry-wide crisis as car sales decline across the continent and European brands face increasing competition from Chinese electric vehicle makers.
The group first informed its employees that it was looking for a buyer to take over the company in 2023.
It was initially in discussion with an investment fund owned by the conservative French businessman Pierre-Édouard Stérin, who reportedly has close ties with France’s far-right party, National Rally.
But Stérin’s fund pulled out at the last minute, paving the way for the deal with DSBJ, which came as a relief to many workers.
“For us, it felt a bit ambiguous to be bought by someone who supported the far-right,” Joly said.
“We were very reassured when DSBJ stepped in at that moment, because from what we knew, it was an industrial group that, like GMD, started out in stamping and cutting – they followed more or less the same path as GMD.”
Political affiliations aside, unions and workers often do not want to see their companies bought by investment funds, because they tend to think in purely financial ways, emphasising returns, which generally leads to job cuts and factory closures further down the line, according to Denis Bréant, head of France’s national automotive metalworker union FTM-CGT.
DSBJ did not respond immediately to the Post’s request for comment.


Jobs have become a crucial factor determining attitudes towards Chinese investment in France and Europe, as economic relations between Beijing and Brussels become increasingly intertwined with geopolitical issues.
The European Union’s decision to impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles last year was partly driven by fears that China’s rising EV exports would undermine European companies and destroy European jobs, according to Harald Hendrikse, head of autos research at Citi.
To change the narrative, Chinese companies need to do more to make sure that Europeans can benefit from China’s investment on the continent, he said.
“We need some sort of win-win that basically maintains some level of European profitability, and really importantly, some level of European employment,” Hendrikse told the Post. “Once you involve the local companies, those local companies will then lobby on your behalf and suddenly your business becomes almost a European business.”
China is only the eighth largest foreign investor in France, but Chinese investment receives a disproportionate amount of attention from the French public due to rising geopolitical concerns, according to Sacha Courtial, a China researcher at the Institut Jacques Delors think tank in Paris.
The French government remains relatively open to Chinese investment in certain sectors, such as renewable energy and autos. France launched more investigations into investments from the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland – the top three non-European Union sources of investment – last year than China, according to a report published by France’s finance ministry.
In 2024, Chinese investment in Europe shot up by 47 per cent year on year – the first increase recorded in nine years – as China’s electric car and battery makers shifted more production to the continent.
For the Chinese companies arriving in France, the challenge now is to deliver on their promise of prosperity as they bid to win over a country known for its powerful unions and leftist traditions.


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French companies fear competition from China, but the country could also play a crucial role in reinvigorating European manufacturing


French companies fear competition from China, but the country could also play a crucial role in reinvigorating European manufacturing.


France’s struggling factories need investment. Is China the answer?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}French companies fear competition from China, but the country could also play a crucial role in reinvigorating European manufacturing

French companies fear competition from China, but the country could also play a crucial role in reinvigorating European manufacturing