Chinese enterprises have climbed aboard the leaky boat of the European debt crisis to access more development opportunities in Germany.

"The current crisis is a chance for Chinese investors," said Petra Wassner, managing director of NRW.INVEST, the economic development agency of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW).

"Due to the euro crisis, price levels have fallen for investors in the eurozone, so they can find some real bargains," she told the Global Times, adding that she has not seen the crisis as having impacted the investment trends of Chinese enterprises.

According to statistics provided by the agency, 52 new Chinese enterprises came to NRW this year, seven more than last year, bringing the total to 700.

Seizing the moment

As the German state with the largest population, NRW is favored by investors for its proximity to sales markets. Almost 150 million people live within 500 kilometers of the state capital Düsseldorf.

"Enterprises in Germany, especially in NRW, are mainly export-oriented, and our major trade partners in the eurozone, such as the Netherlands, Belgium and France, have not yet fallen into the debt crisis. Therefore, the crisis does not really impact our economy," Harry K. Voigtsberger, minister for economic affaires, energy, building, housing and transport of NRW, told the Global Times.

Hisense, one of China's major electronics manufacturers, registered a company in Germany in July and moved its research and development center from the Netherlands to NRW this year.

Targeting the mid-tier market, most Hisense products in Germany are sold at a medium price range.

"Against the backdrop of the crisis, consumers are more pragmatic and economical. They are reluctant to spend too much on expensive items," Fang Xueyu, managing director of Hisense Europe, told the Global Times.

According to Fang, their sales of refrigerators and freezers in Germany this year stand at 550,000, 110,000 more than last year. More than 10,000 TV sets were sold in six months this year, with the sales volume for 2012 set to hit 60,000.

ZTE, a big supplier for telecommunication products, built its German headquarters in Düsseldorf to "get closer" to its clients, such as German telecommunications operators Vodafone and E-Plus, said the CEO of ZTE Deutschland, Li Qiuyang. Since the financial crisis began in 2008, ZTE has recruited more than 10,000 research and development talents globally, while other long-established telecommunications suppliers have shown fatigue and shrunk their market investment.

Alcatel-Lucent announced it would lay off 6,000 staff members in a cost-cutting exercise as in December 2008. Nokia Siemens Networks will lay off 17,000 employees by 2013.

Li said that this is an opportunity to gain a bigger market share. "From 2008 to 2010, ZTE Deutschland kept an increase rate of about 30 percent a year."