Ball pass into the penalty area
A Chinese expansion into Europe, at least that’s what it seems. Today the FrChinese Remier Li Qiang met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and in the next few days he will travel to France. This is Li Qiang’s first overseas trip after his appointment in March: a a sign of how important it is for Beijing to resume ties with Europewhich have appeared increasingly uncertain in recent years.
It’s been five years since a Chinese prime minister visited Germany, but it was last November Scholz was the first G7 leader to visit China after reopening. Now, as then, the economy is the central theme, and Li Qiang really hopes so convince German industry to increase its presence in Chinawhere, however, the years of the pandemic have made the business world increasingly complex.
The meaning of the bolt
With s, Berlin is an important counterpart to Beijing in EuropeTrading exchanges for 299 billion euros in 2022. Germany has China as its main trading partner but does not suffer from the high deficit, which instead strains relations with other Western countries.
German industry, the first European for investments in the People’s Republic, traditionally has such important presence also in technologically relevant sectors. But the tide is turning: the discourse on economic “risk reduction” is spreading throughout Europe, including in Germany. The first arrived in the last few days German strategic national security document warning against China exploiting its weight It proposes influencing the economy to “meet policy objectives” and suggests reducing dependency in critical sectors.
Sever the line of defense
A scenario that worries Beijing: Unsurprisingly during his visit Li Qiang was invited to evaluate the concept of “risk”. and not to confuse interdependence with insecurity. A message that a part of the German industry seems to understand a decoupling of the economies of both countries is “unthinkable”.
However, against the background of China’s attempt to revive cooperation with Germany (and metonymically also with Europe), an increasingly complicated scenario is emerging. Antony Blinken’s contemporary trip to Beijing is somewhat sealing the competitive status of China-United States relations. AND Europe is also trying to equip itself with mechanisms to curb technology sharing Advance to China. Will Li Qiang succeed in interfering in the growing strategic alignment of the United States and Europe?