2023-07-13 11:30:00
Annalena Baerbock presents the German China strategy
The Foreign Minister presented the paper to the China think tank Merics a few minutes after the cabinet decision.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin Germany has presented its own strategy for dealing with China for the first time. The federal cabinet approved the China strategy on Thursday. Immediately after the cabinet meeting, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) presented the strategy at an event at the Berlin China think tank Merics.
The 64-page paper, previously classified as confidential, describes how to deal with China. The core idea is to reduce risk in economic relations in order to eliminate dependencies on China – but without breaking off contacts with Germany’s largest trading partner.
Germany must focus more on its economic security, said Baerbock. “And that means, above all, minimizing cluster risks that not only affect individuals, but an entire economy. That is why companies that make themselves highly dependent on the Chinese market will have to bear the financial risk themselves to a greater extent in the future.”
The National Security Strategy, which is considered to be the overarching document of the China Strategy, had struck a new note with regard to the People’s Republic for the first time in a document. It states that China is a partner, competitor and systemic rival. The addition that follows is crucial: “We see that the elements of rivalry and competition have increased in recent years.”
This change is also emphasized in the China strategy. It said: “China’s behavior and decisions mean that the elements of rivalry and competition in our relationship have increased in recent years.”
Unlike the National Security Strategy, the cabinet is not presenting the China strategy together. In addition to the presentation of Baerbock, the paper should only be presented by government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit in the regular government press conference. In addition to Baerbock, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (all SPD) as well as Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) attended the press conference for the National Security Strategy in June.
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The strategy is important not only for Germany, but also for China. Representatives of the Chinese government had repeatedly persuaded the federal government in the past few months that the paper should not be too confrontational and, above all, should emphasize the cooperation between the two countries. In an interview with the Handelsblatt, China’s ambassador in Berlin, Wu Ken, called a first leaked draft of the strategy “guided by ideology”. After the leak, the federal government continued further negotiations in strict secrecy.
Business associations are responding positively
One of the key points of contention from the business perspective was how precise the requirements for companies should be. The government recognizes that China will remain a very important market for German companies. A decoupling from Germany’s largest trading partner is not planned.
In the investment reviews for Chinese companies in Germany, the areas of the so-called critical infrastructure and the media should be scrutinized. The economy was apparently largely able to assert itself with its rejection of investment reviews in China. The passage is now very general.
The President of the Federal Association of Wholesale, Foreign Trade and Services (BGA), Dirk Jandura, welcomed the fact that there was an agreement at all in the traffic light government. The strategy can only be a first step, said the managing director of the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI), Wolfgang Große Entrup. A close, regular exchange between politics and business on geopolitical and security issues is more important than ever.
With agency material.
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