Germany’s new 64-page long strategy paper on China was presented to the public by the Green-led Foreign Ministry July 13, and it is what had to be expected: although it pays lip service to Germany’s loyalty to the one-China policy, reaffirming and keeping intact Germany’s keeping economic cooperation with the Chinese, it undermines these statements with polemics and charges against Beijing’s “espionage” and “cyberwar” practices, “repression of human rights” in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. It also makes charges against China’s “increasingly aggressive” posture internationally including its support for Russia. (https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/blob/2608580/49d50fecc479304c3da2e2079c55e106/china-strategie-en-data.pdf )
All these charges are summed up in portraying China as a “systemic rival” to the democracies of Germany and Europe with non-European values imposed and controlled by the authoritarian Chinese Communist Party. And, German companies will stop working in China, when their partners there do not respect what Germany and the EU view as “universal” human rights standards—i.e., no cooperation with China if Western propaganda claims to discover something dark there, potentially also sanctions against China.
Green Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said at the press conference where she presented the strategy paper, that German companies with heavy dependencies on China will have to bear the financial risks of that themselves. The government will pursue a strategy of “de-risking” which will reduce these dependencies. In initial reactions to Baerbock, German companies stressed their intent to stay in China, but their protest against the strategy paper has been rather mild so far.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry reacted quickly to the report, calling on Berlin to take a “rational” view of China’s development and regard it as a “cooperative partner” instead of a “systemic rival.” (https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/202307/t20230714_11113511.html)
The Chinese embassy in Berlin wrote in a statement on July 13: “China is a partner, not a rival, to Germany’s challenges. The perception of China as a ‘competitor and systemic rival’ does not correspond to objective facts and is not in the common interest of the two countries.” The embassy added that many of Germany’s challenges and problems were “not caused by China.”
