During the one-day trip to Beijing on Friday, Scholz will hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang. The German leader has promised a “frank exchange” with Chinese leaders on everything from trade and human rights to Taiwan and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It is also the first trip by an EU leader since Xi secured a record-breaking third term and further consolidated his power by filling the upper echelons of the party with his loyalists. In an op-ed for Politico on Thursday, Scholz wrote that “the China of today is not the same as the China of five or 10 years ago” and “as China changes, so must the way we deal with China.” Scholz is expected to be accompanied by a high-profile business delegation, made up of top executives from companies such as Volkswagen, BASF and Deutsche Bank.
Rethinking trade with China?
To view this video, please enable JavaScript and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Business interests over strategic concerns?
The visit, however, has drawn criticism as many in Germany and the EU see Scholz as prioritizing short-term business interests over strategic concerns and EU unity. Scholz’s decision to go ahead with this trip “shows his narrow focus on German short-term business interests, which take precedence over any consideration of EU unity,” Mathieu Duchatel, director of the Asia Program at the Institut Montaigne in Paris. On Twitter, Norbert Röttgen, a foreign policy expert at the opposition Christian Democrats, wrote: “Contrary to all announcements, the Scholz government just keeps betting on short-term profits for big companies while ignoring the long-term costs of dependence on China. “ The visit comes shortly after Scholz – despite objections from many in his cabinet and ruling coalition – pushed through a controversial deal to allow Chinese state-owned shipping company Cosco to buy a 24.9% minority stake in one of the port’s terminals of Hamburg. The deal raised concerns that Beijing is gradually increasing control over key infrastructure on the continent. Thierry Breton, the EU’s internal market commissioner, told Reuters this week that EU nations “should not be naive every time they approve Chinese investment.” “We have to be extremely careful,” he said.
Suspicious of China’s growing influence
The Baltic states and some other former Soviet bloc countries have also become increasingly suspicious of China’s growing economic influence in Europe, particularly given Beijing’s “borderless” friendship with Moscow. At an EU summit in Brussels on October 21, focusing on relations with China, the Baltic states stressed the importance of talking to Beijing with “one voice”. “It is important that we do not have separate deals with China because that would mean we are weak as a union,” Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas told reporters in Brussels. Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Kariņs said that “China is best dealt with when we are 27, not when we are one and one”, in relation to unity within EU member states.
Germany’s Cosco Deal: A Dangerous Addiction?
To view this video, please enable JavaScript and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Jörg Wuttke, president of the European Chamber of Commerce in China, said the Baltics’ view of China is understandable, given their history with Russia and Moscow’s close cooperation with Beijing. But, he added, there is no question of one-sided dependencies when it comes to EU-China ties. “The EU’s dependence on Russia has been on two vital products, natural gas and oil. Whereas with China, trade relations are different and China is more dependent on the European Union. Europe also creates millions of job opportunities in China. So I don’t see a real dependency debate there,” he told DW.
Lack of reciprocity in relationships
Wuttke, however, stressed that it was important for the German chancellor to remind Beijing of the lack of reciprocity in market access, with Chinese companies free to operate in the EU while European companies cannot do the same in China. “So it should be a conversation about reciprocity,” he added. In his article, Scholz wrote that despite “changing circumstances” due to Russia’s war in Ukraine, China remains an “important business and trade partner” for Germany and Europe. “We don’t want to disconnect from that.” China was Germany’s largest trading partner in 2021 for the sixth consecutive year, its largest single source of imports and its second largest export destination after the US. And German industrial giants have continued to invest huge sums of money in the Asian country in recent months, according to the Rhodium Group think tank, which focuses on the Chinese economy. Despite close economic ties, calls for Berlin to take a tougher stance against an increasingly assertive and authoritarian Beijing are growing louder. This prompted the Scholz government to currently formulate its first China strategy.
“We must make it clear that no one can blackmail us”
To view this video, please enable JavaScript and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Projecting a united front is key
Some argue that Scholz’s solo visit to China could have weakened his hand in talks with China’s leaders and he should instead have traveled to Beijing with French President Emmanuel Macron, which would have seen the EU unity. Still, Macron and Scholz have so far struggled to get on the same page in China. Reuters cited unnamed French and German government sources as saying that Macron had suggested to Scholz that they go to Beijing together to send a message of EU unity and counter Chinese attempts to play each other off. However, the German chancellor rejected Macron’s proposal, the sources said. Noah Barkin, a Berlin-based analyst of Europe-China relations at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said “the perspective of traveling separately to Beijing was not ideal,” although he pointed out that those meetings — after three years no in-person contact and strained EU-China relations — were understandable. “Having bilateral meetings with the Chinese President at the G20 summit in November would make more sense,” he told DW, adding: “These separate trips to Beijing will raise suspicions in Europe and among key allies that Germany and France are pursuing their own agenda. in Beijing”. “So it is vital for Solz and Macron not to allow Beijing to play Germany and France against each other. This would be a major setback for Europe after long efforts to develop a united front.” Edited by Srinivas Mazumdaru
