German Chancellor Olaf Scholz briefly visited Beijing on Friday, in the first visit to China by a European leader since the Chinese Communist Party wrapped up its 20th National Congress, and the first in three years by a leader of a G7 country. Scholz’s insistence on visiting China despite loud opposition raises questions about his intentions.
Scholz’s first trip to Asia after taking office was to Japan in April, rather than Germany’s largest trading partner — China. This marked a reversal from his predecessor Angela Merkel’s custom during her 16 years as chancellor of always meeting with China first among Germany’s Asian partners.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the subsequent inflation and energy crises have hit Germany hard and pushed it toward economic recession.
Compared with the economic boom brought by the center-right Merkel, Scholz’s “traffic light coalition” has run into a rather unfavorable environment, forcing Scholz to turn back to the Chinese market in search of opportunities.
On Oct. 27, the German government approved the sale of a minority stake in a Hamburg shipping terminal to China’s Cosco Shipping Holdings, and media reports pointed to the possible sale of German Elmos Semiconductor’s chip factory to its Swedish competitor Silex Microsystems, which is a subsidiary of China’s Sai Microelectronics.
Before departing for Beijing, Scholz wrote a guest commentary in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, in which he said that he would not be silent about China’s human rights record.
Scholz’s way of showing concern for human rights is likely to be different from Merkel’s. Although Merkel was concerned about human rights, after offending China over the Tibet issue soon after becoming chancellor, she became more cautious and avoided further offense by restricting herself to words rather than actions.
However, in view of the criticism and pressure he has received at home and abroad, it made sense for Scholz to appease his critics by writing the commentary.
Notably, Germany has become nervous about China after the National Congress, as could be seen from Scholz’s assertion that China wants to use technology to control the West. He seemingly wants to prioritize solving Germany’s urgent economic problems by winning orders and markets, while writing a sermon-like opinion piece to explain his actions.
Scholz said that it would be unwise to decouple from the Chinese market, implying that Germany has different considerations from the US.
His visit to China had three purposes: to engage in dialogue with Beijing and act as a bridge between it and the G7; win orders from China in exchange for the gesture that his visit conveyed; and use Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) goodwill toward Germany to find out more about what Beijing thinks and where Berlin stands with it.
Although Germany’s economy is deeply dependent on China, it can still respond by diversifying its markets, and it is unlikely to stop participating in security deployments in the Indo-Pacific region.
Scholz’s visit embodies a strategy of separating political and economic considerations when dealing with China. Whether China plays along might be evident from how it uses Germany to counter the US and Europe.
Chang Meng-jen is chair of the Department of Italian Language and Culture at Fu Jen Catholic University, and coordinator of the university’s diplomacy and international affairs program.
Translated by Julian Clegg
Deterrence is fading; war is looming on the Taiwan Strait and for other targets of the China-enabled dictatorship alliance, and after three years the cure is just dawning on the Biden Administration. Now mind you, for a May 28, 2024 interview with Time magazine, President Joe Biden made his 5th public commitment that the United States would defend Taiwan. Less than three weeks later the United States Navy, along with ships from navies of Japan, Canada, the Netherlands, and France, were conducting the Valiant Shield joint force exercise in the Philippine Sea south of Taiwan and in the South China Sea to
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has once again resorted to its age-old tactic of blaming the US for China’s woes. The Financial Times on Sunday reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) told European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that China would not invade Taiwan because it was a trap set by the US. This is not just an attempt to deflect blame, but also a textbook example of the CCP’s “divide and conquer” strategy to sow discord between Europe and the US. However, the blame game reveals deeper problems. Xi’s power rests on the support of the Chinese People’s Liberation
The official media of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) reacted to the May 20 inauguration speech of President William Lai (賴清德) by asserting: “Lai’s words reveal his true intention of sacrificing peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait for his own desire for power.” This baseless accusation by Beijing that Lai is manipulating Taiwanese to resist unification with China for his personal gain, is part of a broader CCP information warfare campaign that has intensified since Lai’s election. This campaign, orchestrated by the United Front Work Department, the CCP’s agency for coordinating influence operations and propaganda, aims to demoralize Taiwanese,
During a meeting in April, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) told European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that the US was trying to provoke China to invade Taiwan, the Financial Times reported on Sunday last week. War with the US would destroy many of China’s achievements and undermine his goal of achieving China’s “great rejuvenation,” Xi was quoted as saying. If Xi genuinely believes the US is goading China, it shows that “concerns that Xi has created an information vacuum” or is getting bad council are “worryingly, true,” Center for Strategic and International Studies Freeman chair in China Studies Jude Blanchette