The question of whether China should be allowed to invest in a Hamburg port terminal has been a source of tension for months. Now, the German government’s “no” to the project is threatened, because the Tollerort port terminal in Hamburg, in which the Chinese state-owned company Cosco is to take a stake, has apparently been classified as “critical infrastructure.” This was reported by Tagesschau news agency, citing research by radio networks NDR and WDR, and by the Süddeutsche Zeitung—the leak timed with the trip to Beijing by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, a notorious xenophobe, beginning today.
A spokeswoman for the container terminal Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) said that the terminal had been registered as critical infrastructure in coordination with the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). The BSI itself had not wanted to comment for security reasons.
After more than a year of negotiations, HHLA had expressed optimism about the deal with Cosco in January: It was concerned with “clarifying final details.” The new situation raises the question of how this might now play out: The Ministry of Economy can, under certain circumstances, prohibit the entry of an investor from a non-EU state if it operates critical infrastructure. Geopoliticians have tried to torpedo the project for more than a year: For instance, Green Economics Minister Robert Habeck had warned against further alleged dependence, in view of Russia and of Russian-Chinese relations. CDU leader Friedrich Merz had warned that Chinese participation in the terminal company “profoundly affects the security interests of our country.”
Shortly before his trip to Beijing in early November 2022, Chancellor Olaf Scholz had overruled five of his ministries, insisting that the Hamburg deal go through, but a decision has still been pending. Given the situation now, Scholz will most likely have to intervene again, to secure the project which is vital for the seaport—after all, it is Germany’s biggest and the country’s key transport link to China.
