"Both countries need each other. We can say that China obtains the know-how from Germany, but for many German companies that have been struggling for capital and expansion in Asia, China is the best choice for partnership."

Wang Weidong, commercial consul-general at the Chinese consulate in Frankfurt, speaking about Chinese companies working with German companies through mergers and acquisitions.

"Chinese telecommunications equipment firms spent more than three times as much in Europe than in the US, where the committee on Foreign Investment in the US has interfered with several deals, and firms have seen their business diminished by intervention from US government officials, members of Congress and the security community."

Thilo Hanemann, the research director of the Rhodium Group, citing national security concerns as an important factor affecting China's investment. Europe has attracted twice as much investment as the US from Chinese investors in the past two years for commercial opportunities and political reasons, said the Rhodium Group in a report.

"Chinese people are maturing, thinking about what the real meaning of luxury products is."

Zhou Ting, head of the Fortune Character Institute, an organization that studies luxury purchases in China. According to a survey by the French research company Ipsos, 42 percent of the 66,000 women aged between 12 and 64 in 88 cities and rural areas said individuality is the main reason to buy luxury goods.

(China Daily 03/01/2013 page14)