More common interests

Although the Sino-German relationship is positive on the whole, it has not been all plain sailing. For example, Merkel's meeting with the Dalai Lama in 2007 gravely harmed relations between the two countries. But the two countries conducted consultations many times to overcome the difficulties, and after the German government stated it would continue to firmly adhere to the one-China policy, recognize that Taiwan and Tibet are Chinese territories, firmly oppose Taiwan's "referendum on UN membership" and would not support or encourage Tibet's independence, China-Germany relations improved.

However, there is new obstacle facing Sino-German relations. The EU plans to impose provisional import duties on Chinese-made photovoltaic products. The initiator of the action is German company Solarworld AG.

The development process of Sino-German relations over the past four decades shows that the two countries have more common interests than differences, more cooperation than competition. China's new leadership accords great importance to its relations with Germany and would like to further the cooperation and strategic partnership between the two nations.

In the future, the two sides should do more to realize mutual respect and understanding. They should increase mutual trust, seek common ground and avoid hurting each other's core interests. Differences in history, culture, political systems and stages of development between China and Germany should not be barriers to cooperation, they should be seen as complementary factors and diversity.

The two sides should further deepen economic and trade relations. China has a huge market and abundant labor resources while Germany is capable of producing highly competitive products and is a world leader in manufacturing technology. The two economies are highly complementary, the potential of which can be fully tapped through China's market for technology and Germany's technology for the market.

China hopes to use its huge market in exchange for advanced technology from Germany, while Germany is willing to gain more market share in China by virtue of its advanced technology. This undoubtedly will produce real win-win results.

In order to push bilateral economic and trade relations to new heights, Germany should increase the share of high- and new-tech products in its trade with China, while China should pay more attention to intellectual property protection and keep markets open.

The author is deputy director of the Institute of European Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

(China Daily 05/27/2013 page8)