Germany and China
Berlin – A decade ago, Angela Merkel was still chancellor, and the two countries’ connections looked to provide limitless opportunities for commerce and financial gain.
Red carpets, military salutes, commercial agreements, signing ceremonies, and pomp and ceremony all took place during the discussions.
But after a three-year delay during the epidemic, Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and China’s premier, Li Qiang, will reopen the discussions on Tuesday in a completely different world—one with revised estimates of political vulnerabilities and economic interdependence.
Reporter Nicole Hong focuses on China. She was a member of the team that won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting when she was employed at The Wall Street Journal.
As a result of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Beijing’s growing wooing of Moscow, and China’s simmering problems with the United States, Germany’s most significant friend, the two nations enter the discussions almost as estranged partners.
The head of the Global Public Policy Institute in Berlin, Thorsten Benner, claimed that these consultations “seem out of step with the times.”
“Typically, you would have government-to-government discussions with your democratic friends. The difficulty is striking a balance between the current level of reality and the traditional Merkel approach to China discussions.”
The premier of China, Mr. Li, who will be joined by a sizable train of ministers, will be in Berlin for the first time for these meetings as well as for Mr. Scholz.
Even as they work to develop areas of shared interest, there is little doubt that their missions will conflict.
Germany will use the summit as a chance to stake out a new position, one in which China remains one of its most important economic partners but also a “systemic rival.”
Berlin will thus work to protect its sensitive technology and promote commercial diversification away from Beijing.
For China, it will be a chance to persuade its top trade partner in Europe to continue doing business as usual and to stoke tensions between Berlin and Washington.
