All Scholz’s disappointments and humiliations in China
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz returns to Berlin after a long but unsuccessful trip to China: President Xi and Prime Minister Li did not accept his requests, openly contesting him
The longest trip ever made to China since he became chancellor brought no luck to Olaf Scholz, who returned home empty-handed and with the double humiliation inflicted on him by President Xi and Prime Minister Li who not only did not accept his complaints about unfair competition, on Chinese industrial overproduction and dumping but they tried to explain to him that he and his American friends are wrong about everything.
Visit
A four-day tour in China for Scholz escorted by the elite of German industry such as the CEO of Siemens Roland Busch, that of Mercedes Benz Ola Kallenius, that of Merck Belen Garijo, the bosses of BMW and Bayer Olivers Zipse and Bill Anderson, and the list goes on.
And it was precisely managers and entrepreneurs who dictated the agenda of this visit with unequivocal declarations on the need to maintain very close economic ties between Germany and Dragon despite the adversities of the moment and the more than unfavorable international context.
“Withdrawing from such a large market is not an alternative,” Kallenius said from Beijing, speaking to German broadcaster ARD. “We see more opportunities than risks,” Zipse echoed in words reported by Reuters .
But, as the same news agency observes, it was the very length of Scholz's trip, in what was the most prolonged bilateral visit since he became chancellor, that signaled that "Germany is not serious when it comes to diversify trades and will continue to prioritize short-term financial benefits over long-term security.”
The spokesperson's tweet
The harsh truth is explained directly by the assistant Foreign Minister and spokesperson of the Chinese government Hua Chuenying in an eloquent tweet on the numbers of the Sino-German cooperation which he defined as a "win-win partnership": 91% of German companies would not have second a Chinese poll plans to exit the country; German foreign direct investment in China in 2023 reached a record level of 11.9 billion euros, an increase of 4.3% compared to the previous year; Total German investment in China represents more than 10% of all German foreign investment.
Tensions between Scholz and Xi
Given these sensational data and the overall benevolent nature of the visit, when he found himself face to face with President Xi, the chancellor had his moment of truth.
It happened when Scholz attempted to explain to his colleague the problem for Germany, Europe and beyond represented by Chinese overproduction in the sectors of the green economy and in particular the electric sector which, also in light of the very generous subsidies they benefit from, they pose a serious threat to the industry and to the sovereignty of the importing countries.
But Xi's response was that that very record benefits not only the buyers of those technologies but the entire world by containing inflation, for example.
“Chinese exports of electric vehicles, lithium batteries and solar products have enriched global market supply and eased inflationary pressures, while also making a major contribution to global efforts to address climate change and the green transition,” is what Single Party leader told his guest as reported by Bloomberg .
The lash from the prime minister
No less humiliating for Scholz was the lecture he received from Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang the day before the meeting with Xi.
After having informed the prime minister that German companies indeed want to increase investments in China but ask, in his words, "equal access to the market, fair conditions for competition, the protection of intellectual property and a reliable judicial system", the chancellor received not only the silence of the other party but a rebuke fully in tune with what Xi would have explained to Scholz the following day.
Rather than respond to the points raised, Li explained to the chancellor that his country treats foreign companies fairly but subsidizes its own in full accordance with WTO rules.
“Industrial subsidies,” Li said in words again reported by Bloomberg , “are a common practice in the world, and many countries provide more than China.”
And as for the issue that the German executive had come to Beijing to raise before those directly involved, i.e. overproduction, the prime minister's response was that it "serves to ensure full competition and the survival of the fittest".
There's no harm in trying
Yet Scholz had tried in every way to deliver the message, even with a speech at Tongji University in Shanghai held before meeting XI and Li, in which he was crystal clear in asking that "competition must be fair", "no to dumping”, “no to overproduction”.
Do you turn the other cheek?
But the attempts were useless and, Politico underlines, the only thing that the chancellor takes home is the "slap" received from Xi on the topic of protectionism in the context of a meeting that the Chinese media described as loving and enriched by a cup of tea and a walk.
Beijing "is not a threat to security" Xi emphasized in front of an astonished Scholz and forced to hear from his interlocutor that cooperation between the respective countries does not represent at all a risk as the Americans, many Europeans and even exponents have been portraying it for some time now. flagship of the German government itself.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/olaf-scholz-xi-jinping-cina/ on Wed, 17 Apr 2024 06:24:02 +0000.