Analysis
BERLIN – Premier Li Qiang yesterday wrapped up a four-day visit to Germany, the first stop of his maiden overseas trip since taking office.
During the visit, dubbed as one for cooperation and friendship, Li held talks with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Scholz, co-chaired an inter-governmental consultation, and met extensively with the German business community.
The two countries agreed to expand cooperation in a volatile world and made a joint call against any form of decoupling.
TRIP FOR COOPERATION
Upon his arrival, Li said Beijing is ready to work with Berlin to further explore cooperation potential and push for new development in bilateral ties, noting this visit will carry forward the two countries’ traditional friendship and deepen their cooperation.
During his visit, Li attended a seminar with representatives of the German business community, saying that face-to-face communication can deepen the understanding and trust between people.
“It is a sign of hope,” said Sevim Dagdelen, chairwoman of the Die Linke (“The Left”) parliamentary group of the German Bundestag’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, underscoring the need for increased political and economic cooperation between Germany and China.
Deeming China one of Germany’s most important trading partners, she emphasized that hundreds of thousands of Germany’s jobs depend on this cooperation.
When attending Tuesday’s round table, which brought together more than 30 representatives of Chinese and German entrepreneurs, the Chinese premier accentuated cooperation as the only way out and the best way to deal with difficulties and challenges.
Noting that China and Germany enjoy broad space and great potential for cooperation in such fields as digital economy, artificial intelligence and green development, Li said it is believed that with the joint efforts of both countries’ entrepreneurs, China-Germany cooperation will continue to achieve new results.
“Now that personal contact has been established at many levels of government, German business would like to see a more solution-oriented approach to Germany-China relations,” said Michael Schumann, head of the German Federal Association for Economic Development and Foreign Trade.
“The foundation for this has been laid here in Berlin,” he said, referring to Li’s visit.
NO DECOUPLING
Scholz told Li that the German side welcomes China’s development and prosperity, stating that Germany rejects all forms of decoupling and “de-risking” is not “de-sinicization.”
The chancellor’s remarks are regarded as reassurance about stable relations between the two countries.
Earlier on the same day, at the seminar with the German business community, Li said that risk prevention and cooperation are not opposites.
“Failure to cooperate is the biggest risk, and failure to develop is the biggest insecurity,” he noted.
“The great majority of us knows that we need the very best relations with China,” Volker Tschapke, honorary president of Germany’s Prussian Society, told Xinhua.
Acknowledging the two countries’ successful friendship over the past five decades, Tschapke said he appreciates Li’s visit to Germany, which is an “important symbol.”
Germany and China need each other, Tschapke said.
Schumann said he particularly welcomes the declared intention of Germany and China to cooperate more closely in the fields of food security, debt problems, and securing peace and stability in the world.
In the view of Michael Borchmann, former head of the European and International Affairs Department of the federal German state of Hesse, the China-Germany inter-governmental consultation mechanism, which dates to 2011, has helped promote mutual understanding and mutual trust.
Borchmann, also senior adviser of the China International Investment Promotion Agency, said Scholz’s visit to China last year has already assured the importance of the bilateral cooperation.
“I hope, too, that Li’s visit will support the rational actors in Germany, which know that China is very important for the sake of our economy,” he stressed, warning that those who use such intoxicated terms as rivalry, competition, decoupling or de-risking to describe ties with China would “risk a further decline of our economy.”
STRATEGIC AUTONOMY
Dagdelen urged the German government not to subordinate itself to U.S. geopolitical policies that pit Germany against China. Such subordination calls into question Germany’s sovereignty as an independent country and Europe’s vision of collective prosperity, she said.
During his state visit to China in April, French President Emmanuel Macron also exhibited his statesmanship by keeping in focus the interests of France and the European continent, Borchmann observed.
“We cannot deny that also in the European institutions there are actors playing the game of the United States,” he said, adding this is why Macron said Europe must resist pressure to become America’s followers.
A recent poll by the European Council on Foreign Relations revealed the view that China is a “necessary partner” for Europe prevails in almost every surveyed country.
Moreover, data from China’s Ministry of Commerce showed new investment from European companies in China rose by 70 percent to US$12.1 billion in 2022. Last year, China-EU bilateral trade hit a new high of US$847.3 billion.
Li and Scholz witnessed the signing of a number of bilateral cooperation deals in the fields of climate change, innovation, advanced manufacturing and vocational education.
The two sides also agreed to set up a dialogue and cooperation mechanism on climate change and green transition. “China and Germany can become partners in green development,” Li said. – Xinhua
Premier Li Qiang (left) and Bavaria’s State Premier Markus Söder (right) shake hands in Munich on Tuesday. Li visited the BMW and Siemens headquarters in the Bavarian capital yesterday. He has meanwhile arrived in Paris for an official visit to France. – AFP
