Officials of the Consulate General of Japan in Guangzhou visited Zengcheng District on May 28th. The delegation toured the Yongning Street Community Service Station for Foreigners, the Zengcheng Factory of GAC Honda CO., LTD and Guangzhou DENSO CO., LTD.

Ishizuka Hideki, the Consul General for Japan in Guangzhou, said he hoped to gain insight into the current situation in Japanese-funded companies in Guangzhou after the pandemic through this tour. “HONDA is a leading auto brand worldwide, and DENSO is one of the biggest auto part suppliers. I’m glad that both of the companies have got back on track smoothly with the support of the local government.”

The Consul General added that he is optimistic about Sino-Japanese cooperation and trade after the pandemic. “The situation got better throughout April although restrictions still exist in terms of import and export. I believe we can compensate for the losses or even see higher volumes than last year in just a few months, however.”

Chen Xiaohua, Vice Chief Executive of the Zengcheng government, said that the government is maintaining close contact with the enterprises in the district, and has been helping them return to work since February. Thus far, 99 percent of major industrial firms have restarted production in the district.

Shintaro Takeuchi, senior staff of Guangzhou DENSO, said the company had reopened on February 17th and all of its employees have been back to work since April 28th. “The local government provided us with both guidance and medical supplies to prepare for resumption. They also helped us coordinate with suppliers and offered subsidies and fee waivers worth about 7 million yuan.”

Zengcheng is in the east of Guangzhou connecting with Dongguan, Shenzhen Hong Kong and eastern Guangdong. Its development district was classified as a national project in 2010 and has gathered a large number of enterprises in the fields of information technology, new energy vehicles and fintech. Its total industrial output exceeded 137.4 billion yuan in 2019.