Liu Hanyuan (COURTESY PHOTO) 

At the onging Two Sessions, the annual meetings of China's top legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC), and the top political advisory body, the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Liu Hanyuan, a deputy to the NPC and Chairman of Tongwei Group, once again became the focus of much media attention.  

As a veteran NPC deputy who has attended the sessions for 28 consecutive years, Liu leads Tongwei Group, a global giant in the new energy sector. The company holds the top global position in high-purity silicon and solar cell production, making it the first Fortune Global 500 enterprise in the photovoltaic (PV) industry. 

In recent years, Chinese PV products have faced trade barriers in the U.S. and European markets, severely impacting the stability of the global photovoltaic industry's supply chain. In an interview with Beijing Review, Liu emphasized that the globalization of China’s new energy industry should not only focus on product exports but also explore a collaborative model of technology and industrial chain integration to address trade barriers and advance global carbon neutrality. 

“From a manufacturing perspective, China has established a globally leading and comprehensive PV industrial chain. Over 70 percent of the world’s PV products are made in China, with some segments even accounting for 90-95 percent of global production. China has led the world in new PV installations for 10 consecutive years,” Liu said. 

Liu pointed out that the European Union’s imposition of high tariffs on Chinese PV products failed to bolster local enterprises and instead slowed down their energy transition. “They later realized that achieving carbon neutrality is impossible without Chinese manufacturing,” he added. 

Liu believes that if the EU attempts to rebuild a complete PV supply chain, it will take at least 15 to 20 years to reach China’s current scale and cost efficiency. With only about 20 years left to meet carbon neutrality targets, “its energy transition goals will be difficult to achieve without Chinese manufacturing.” He warned that rejecting or distancing from China’s PV manufacturing market would ultimately lead to a lose-lose scenario. Therefore, from an industrial perspective, the energy transition in the U.S. and Europe cannot succeed without the support of China’s PV industry. 

“The U.S. and Europe are in a predicament—they want to support their domestic manufacturing but lack the capacity to quickly build sufficient production capabilities to sustain their energy transition and international competitiveness. This is their greatest pain point,” Liu added. 

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon  

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