Germany on Thursday July 13, embraced a more stringent approach in dealing with China, its primary trade ally, with the aim of addressing China’s increasingly assertive behavior. However, Beijing cautioned that such a stance could potentially harm the existing cooperation and mutual trust between the two nations.
Germany on Thursday adopted a tougher strategy toward a more “assertive” China, its top trade partner, in a move Beijing warned could “damage cooperation and mutual trust”.
Seeking a balance between competing interests of the EU’s biggest economy, the document overhauls Germany’s stance toward China as a “partner, competitor and systemic rival”.
The 64-page blueprint, which the government said was embedded in the European Union’s approach to China, showed the government was “realistic but not naive”, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.
The document is the product of months of wrangling within the German government over its strategy toward China.
While Baerbock of the Greens has pushed for a more hawkish line and a greater emphasis on human rights, Scholz, a Social Democrat, has backed a more trade-friendly stance he calls “de-risking but not decoupling”.
The new China policy marks a finely calibrated balance of the two within the ruling coalition, the product of what Baerbock called “finding compromises… the lifeblood of democracies”.
However Germany also highlighted potential for greater cooperation, noting for example that “it will not be possible to overcome the climate crisis without China”.
Burned by its reliance on Russian gas and hurt by supply chain disruptions during the pandemic, Germany has been intensifying efforts to diversify away from China.
In its first national security strategy unveiled last month, Berlin accused China of acting against German interests, putting international security “under increasing pressure” and disregarding human rights.
The harder line has alarmed Beijing, but also sparked fears in German industry which has grown increasingly dependent on China.
Corporate giants such as Volkswagen and Siemens have in recent months outlined growth strategies that rely heavily on the Chinese market.
Baerbock stressed Thursday that big companies would need to assume more responsibility for “de-risking” and not assume Berlin would provide a bailout if it came to an event such as a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
Khalil Wakim, with AFP
