Scholz has sent an important signal: Germany is fulfilling its responsibility in relation to China and is not only representing its own economic interests.
(Photo: dpa)
On the plane on the return journey from Beijing to Berlin, Olaf Scholz seems visibly relaxed, almost euphoric by his standards. He seems to see his day trip to China as a success. He has every reason to be.
Wrong time, wrong signal, wrong composition of the delegation – hardly any chancellor’s trip to China was criticized as much as Olaf Scholz’ short trip to Beijing. In the end it can be said that he responded to the criticism and made his journey a success.
The trip was a success in terms of what you can actually achieve with such talks. Scholz has made Germany’s standpoints clear to China and experienced Beijing’s perspective firsthand. Above all, Scholz has shown that the relationship between Germany and China has changed.
This was mainly due to the fact that he apparently took the criticism to heart. In the run-up to the trip, Scholz was criticized in particular for taking a high-ranking business delegation with him. That seemed to many as if he wanted to leave everything as it was in relation to Beijing.
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The chancellor’s entourage consciously emphasized again and again that this was an exceptionally small business delegation. There was no contract signing, no opening statement at the business meeting with Scholz and Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, and there are hardly any photos of the high-ranking company representatives who traveled with them.
At Merkel, the focus was on the economy – not at Scholz
On the last trip by Scholz’s predecessor, Angela Merkel, to China three years ago, it was completely different. The signing of contracts was celebrated and the accompanying journalists were invited to the start of business meetings. But with Scholz, the high-ranking business delegation made up of CEOs from BASF, Deutsche Bank, VW and BMW stays in the background.
If you juxtapose Merkel’s and Scholz’s speeches following their talks with Prime Minister Li, the difference is striking.
In 2019, Merkel spent well over half of her time only talking about the close economic ties between Germany and China. Scholz, on the other hand, only mentions trade between the two countries for the first time after almost five minutes in his speech and only to express criticism.
>> Read also: The Loss of Control – How China’s Communist Party is gaining influence in German corporations
One can of course assume that Scholz spoke to the Chinese leadership for the interests of the companies that had traveled with him. That alone sends the contradictory signal, especially to the large companies that are really dependent on the Chinese market, that the federal government sees the dangerous dependence of some corporations on China, but is still firmly on their side.
It is remarkable that Scholz approached Xi about Xinjiang
Otherwise, Scholz focused on geopolitical issues with China. It is remarkable that he also addressed human rights abuses in Xinjiang in the presence of the Chinese Prime Minister.
Xi’s public ban on the use of nuclear weapons is unlikely to be the breakthrough it is sometimes interpreted as.
(Photo: dpa)
The Chancellor made China’s role in the Ukraine war the main focus of his trip. Scholz campaigned for Beijing to use its influence on Moscow to prevent the use of nuclear weapons.
It is at least doubtful whether this will bring anything in the end. Xi’s public ban on the use of nuclear weapons is unlikely to be the breakthrough it is sometimes interpreted as.
Nevertheless, Scholz has sent an important signal: Germany is fulfilling its responsibility in relation to China and is not only representing its own economic interests. However, it remains to be seen whether this will also be reflected in concrete actions over the next few months.
More: Five graphs showing Germany’s dependence on China