Germany should be realistic in its China policy: China Daily editorial

In a recent interview with the German newspaper Handelsblatt, Chinese Ambassador to Germany Wu Ken expressed serious concern about the new, reportedly tougher China strategy the German government is working on, and which may soon be finalized.

He said that from what he had been told, the so-called Internal Guidelines on China being compiled by the German Economy Ministry are "guided by ideology" and exaggerate the competition and confrontation between the two countries in a way that has nothing to do with reality. This, he rightly said, is "very disconcerting", as the guidelines, supposedly meant to address past German "naivety" and reduce the country's dependence on China, point to a strategic shift away from China.

Calls for such a shift have encountered a more receptive audience in Germany as a result of the redistribution of power within the German government and the hostilities between Russia and Ukraine, which have prompted Germany to more closely align itself with "like-minded" allies such as the United States. Although this means Germany is "forfeiting its independence" as Wu noted.

The Joe Biden administration has taken the opportunity of the Ukraine crisis it has triggered and is maintaining, and the subsequent political struggles within the German government and public opinion, to put pressure on Germany to fall in line with its confrontational national security strategy.

It remains to be seen what the German government's new China strategy will look like in the end thanks to different views within the government.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has expressed his opposition to "decoupling" on many occasions, and stated he is willing to continue to deepen economic and trade cooperation with China and to work with it to create more opportunities for enterprises in the two countries. The German Chamber of Commerce has also said "decoupling away from China is not a desired outcome". It has urged the German government to continue support for German companies in China.

But there have been growing calls within the German government and society to restrict German enterprises' investment in China and prohibit Chinese enterprises from investing in key sectors of the German economy.

The touchstone for the development of relations between Germany and China has always been their mutual respect and understanding.

The future development of China-Germany relations depends on the extent to which Germany can clarify its perspective of China by decoupling it from the distorting influence of the US.

And that is true not just for the world's fourth-largest economy, but equally applicable to every economy that is in the process of, or considering re-evaluating and readjusting relations, economic or political or both, with China.