After she stepped down, she was able to explain her attitude towards China to the media for the first time, explaining the reasons for her frequent visits to China during her reign. However, some scholars have pointed out that the resignation of the Merkel administration may lead

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After 16 years of reign, Germany's first female prime minister Merkel finally officially stepped down a few days ago. After she stepped down, she was able to explain her attitude towards China to the media for the first time, explaining the reasons for her frequent visits to China during her reign. However, some scholars have pointed out that the resignation of the Merkel administration may lead to the further complexity of Sino-German relations in the future.

(Merkel, who is now the former prime minister)

According to Global Network citing Associated Press and other media reports on October 27, on Tuesday local time, German Chancellor Angela Merkel personally took over the term end notice from German President Steinmeier at the government's resignation ceremony, bringing a successful end to her 16-year German Chancellor's career. Regarding Merkel's resignation, the German media said that she "left with confidence" and praised her for "having achieved far more than the outside world imagined." It can be seen that her rule was indeed widely recognized by the Germans.

(Merkel took over the notice of term ending with a smile)

After leaving office, Merkel accepted an exclusive interview with German media for nearly an hour, and in the interview, she elaborated on her attitude towards China for the first time. As a German Chancellor who "must visit China every year" during her tenure, she attaches much importance to China than other leaders of European and American countries. As for the reasons why she frequently visited China, she explained in the interview: "When I just took office, China's GDP was slightly lower than Germany. Now China's GDP has reached 14.7 trillion, while Germany only has 3.8 trillion... We must establish our relationship (with China) in a strategically wise way, because the balance of the world pattern has been completely changed."

(Merkel visits China)

It is not difficult to see that Merkel believes that maintaining appropriate relations with China is one of the important means to maintain Germany's influence and voice in Europe and even the world, but she does not think that Germany should fight against China with the United States, but should better "mutually benefit and win-win" with China. It is worth mentioning that just before Merkel leaves office, the leaders of China and Germany also had a cross-border call, and China has directly called Merkel "an old friend" , and the communication atmosphere is very relaxed and friendly. In addition, China once again emphasized to Merkel that Beijing attaches importance to Berlin and regarded China-Germany relations as a model for avoiding the zero-sum game trap between countries.

Under Germany under Merkel, it has made great achievements in establishing friendly and cooperative relations with China. However, with the defeat of the CDU Conservative Party under Merkel, it cast a shadow on the future relations between China and Germany. It is reported that in this election, the CDU led by Merkel won only 196 seats, while the left-wing party Social Democratic Party won 206 seats. Although Merkel is still the "carekeeper prime minister" and still holds the actual administrative power of Germany until the leader of the Social Democratic Party Olaf Schultz officially succeeded in early December this year, she now has too little in the diplomatic field besides the alternation of regimes.

(future German Chancellor Olaf Schultz)

However, fortunately, the successor was German Social Democratic Party instead of the right-wing Liberal Democratic Party. Social Democratic Party leader Schultz has always been widely regarded as a "pro-China faction". During his tenure as mayor of Hamburg, he promoted Sino-German trade cooperation many times, and even personally took part in the Chinese promotion project. Ulf Schneider, founder of the German think tank Schneider Group, said that if a German right-wing party comes to power, it will inevitably go with the United States to talk about China's "human rights" issue, and may even unilaterally interfere in Taiwan's regional issues. However, Schultz will definitely be as pragmatic to China as Merkel, and may even further promote China-Germany cooperation relations.

However, this position will inevitably be strongly disgusted by the United States and other Western countries, and the right-wing forces in Germany will also fight back. Therefore, the future of Sino-German relations is still an uncertain factor.