Tianjin, Beijing At the start of her trip to China, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock invoked the unity of Europe with a view to the People’s Republic in the port city of Tianjin. “If you share a common internal market, then you can’t have any different positions on the EU’s largest trading partner and especially Germany,” says Baerbock. Berlin coordinates with no other partner as closely as with “our friends from France”.
According to Baerbock, Macron underlined again on Wednesday that the French China policy reflects the European China policy “one to one”. “And that has been our strength over the past year,” said Baerbock, explaining that Europe is pursuing common strategic approaches when it comes to core interests and values.
During his trip to China last week, Macron gave the impression several times that he wanted to distance himself from Europe, but also from the USA on the China question. In an interview, he said that critics understood it as distancing himself from Washington and that Macron dismissed the conflict over Taiwan as a problem for other nations.
Baerbock repeated the German government’s demand that the German economy must position itself more broadly with a view to China. “We have dependencies on China in some areas that are not healthy,” she said in Tianjin. She reiterated that Germany cannot or does not want to decouple itself from China. But one must, says Baerbock, learn from the Russian attack on Ukraine.
Before her departure from Berlin, she had also emphasized that “a unilateral change in the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, and certainly a military escalation, would be unacceptable,” said the Foreign Minister.
>> Read here: Baerbock travels to China – The German economy is hoping for clear words
Shortly before Baerbock’s trip, the Chinese military had practiced a comprehensive sea and air space blockade of the island for several days. China sees Taiwan as part of its territory, although the country has never been part of the People’s Republic founded in 1949 and has its own democratically elected government and laws.
Managing Director Jianhui Gou gave Annalena Baerbock a model of a gearbox as a gift.
(Photo: dpa)
Baerbock landed in Tianjin on Thursday under a cloudy sky. The visit to the metropolis marks the beginning of a six-day trip to Asia by the Green Party politician. After two days in China, we’re off to South Korea on Saturday and from there on to the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Japan.
On the trip, she meets many company representatives – which is unusual for her office. On the way to their first appointment, they informed business representatives about the situation on site. Right at the beginning on Thursday, Baerbock first visited a German company that manufactures gearboxes for wind turbines. Later she attended a Chinese school that teaches German as a foreign language. The most important political talks are scheduled for Friday in Beijing.
Baerbock wants to get an idea of the country after three years of corona lockdown. In addition to China’s role in the Ukraine war, topics will also include the China strategy, which the German government is currently preparing under the auspices of the Federal Foreign Office. “Partner, competitor, systemic rival – that is the compass of European China policy,” said Baerbock before leaving Berlin. “In which direction the needle will swing in the future also depends on which path China chooses.”
China is trying to get Baerbock
The communist leadership regards Baerbock and the Greens with suspicion because of their more China-critical stance. An article in the state-run newspaper Global Times said the China strategy and national security strategy the federal government is working on are unpredictable.
The state school that Baerbock attends has more than 70 classes and a total of 4000 students. German is taught as the first foreign language from the 10th to the 12th grade.
(Photo: dpa)
Nevertheless, the party is clearly trying to get the foreign minister. Foreign Minister Qin Gang wants to pick Baerbock up from Tianjin on Friday morning, the port city is the birthplace of her counterpart. After a joint visit to the company, we take a special train to Beijing for further talks.
In addition to the detailed meetings with Qin Gang, Baerbock also has appointments with higher-ranking representatives of the state leadership and the Communist Party from a protocol point of view. On Friday, for example, she briefly met Han Zheng, a member of the Politburo’s Standing Committee. A meeting with Wang Yi, China’s top foreign policy figure, is scheduled for Saturday.
China’s concerns that relations with Germany could deteriorate under the traffic light government have eased a bit after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s (SPD) visit last November, says Agatha Kratz, China expert at the Rhodium think tank. This signaled that the German economy would remain involved in China.
The foreign minister talks to the party secretary of the city of Tianjin.
(Photo: dpa)
Nevertheless, Beijing fears that the federal government will, on the one hand, force companies to be more transparent about their investments in China and, on the other hand, make it clear that companies have to bear the risks themselves – and cannot hope for political support in an emergency. This could increase the pressure on German companies to diversify more.
More: The German foreign minister can only do better than Macron on her trip to China