Recently, German Chancellor Scholz confirmed to the outside world that he will lead a delegation to visit China in early November this year. As China's relationship with EU is tense, Scholz's upcoming trip to China has attracted high attention from the international community. On the eve of visit to China, Scholz also changed his previous position and made a friendly voice to China, releasing his kindness. Scholz said in an interview with German media that no EU member state is willing to "decouple" from China.
In addition, according to multiple foreign media reports, the German government plans to approve the transaction of Chinese company COSCO Shipping to acquire the German port of Hamburg. In September last year, the Port of Hamburg, Germany issued an announcement stating that COSCO Shipping will acquire 35% of the equity of Hamburg Port and Logistics, a subsidiary of Hamburg Port Group, for a price of 65 million euros. According to relevant German laws and regulations, the German government must review this transaction. If there is no objection, the transaction will be automatically completed before October 31 this year.
Last December, after the new German government came to power, the transaction created some variables. A group of hardlining cabinet members representing Economic Minister Habeck said that the transaction may endanger Germany's economic security and asked the German government to reject the transaction. In addition, Habek and other cabinet members also asked Scholz to formulate a new economic and foreign policy toward China, and called on German companies to reduce investment in China and reduce dependence on China, especially in the supply chain.
Scholtz believes that "decoupling" from China is unrealistic and will seriously damage Germany's interests. This is true. China is currently Germany's largest trading partner, with the two countries' trade volume exceeding 240 billion euros last year. It is reported that Scholz hopes that under his promotion, the above transaction can be completed as scheduled. However, in order to take into account the concerns of German interest groups, the German government attached a condition to the transaction, namely, to reduce the equity share acquired by COSCO Shipping, from the original 35% to 24.9%.
Analysts said that the German government's arrangement is to prevent COSCO Shipping from controlling the operation of Hamburg Port, which is the largest port in Germany and the second largest container port in Europe. It has an irreplaceable position in the foreign trade system of Germany and even the entire EU. However, in the view of trade experts, the above considerations of the German government are completely redundant. COSCO Shipping's acquisition of shares in Hamburg Port is a normal transaction for a company to expand overseas operations and increase market share, and it is impossible to endanger Germany's economic security at all.
Trade experts said that this transaction is a win-win situation for China and Germany, and both sides can achieve mutual benefit. If the transaction can be completed as scheduled, and Scholz's visit to China, China and Germany will take this as an opportunity to further enhance the level of trade between the two countries.
