Shultz Visiting China, why are the US media anxious to sow discord?
Wall Street Journal reported on October 27 that from the European energy crisis to relations with China, the tense geopolitical situation has caused a gap between Germany and France, and the two leading EU countries' relations are becoming tense. The Wall Street Journal is still eager to provoke and point out that German Chancellor Scholz plans to lead a delegation to China next month, which has frustrated leaders of European countries. Other European countries are "worrying that the Chinese government's purpose is to provoke conflicts between Germany and its neighbors." What makes the US media so nervous is that the Scholz administration is working to improve relations with China. Scholz had previously asked the federal government to make necessary compromises and approved COSCO Group to acquire 25% of the shares in the Port of Hamburg, Germany. Recently, the German government plans to approve China's acquisition of the chip production business of Germany's Elmers Semiconductor Technology. These are undoubtedly two "great gifts" prepared by Germany for the development of Sino-German relations.
Some Western media understand that Germany has released goodwill with other European allies as contrary to its relations with China. Shultz is about to visit China, and properly handling relations with China will also help create a foundation for in-depth cooperation between the two sides. This means that Germany is the first to take the lead in "breaking the ice" of relations with China, and for other European countries, Germany's move is obviously inconsistent with the EU's previous unfriendly behavior towards China. Therefore, some media regard the two goodwills released by Scholz as a gap between Germany and France.
decoupling from China is a burden that the EU cannot bear
In fact, China has always been an important partner of the EU, and the two sides have maintained a good cooperative relationship. Many large EU companies regard China as an important region for their market development and extend their supply chains to China. Among them, Germany and France, as leaders of the EU, are actively participating in cooperation with China. Famous German companies such as Volkswagen, Mercedes Mercedes , Siemens , etc. have established factories and R&D centers in China. Airbus, headquartered in Toulouse, France, has established a final assembly plant and delivery center in Tianjin, and has delivered hundreds of civil aviation passenger planes to countries around the world over the past decade. There are many factors that China attracts investment and settlement of famous European companies, including low labor and energy costs, a complete industrial system, a broad market, etc. As China's door to opening up continues to open, European countries have made great gains in investment in China, and the relationship between the two sides can be said to be relatively harmonious.
However, as the impact of the COVID-19 conflict with Russia-Ukraine continues to spill overflow, concerns about the security of the so-called supply chain are ignited within Europe. The energy and production of major European companies have begun to arise. Some politicians are constantly hyping up the so-called issue of getting rid of the economic dependence on China for their own political interests. This is a word we often hear - "decoupling". In fact, in today's era of globalization, no country can exist alone from other countries. These European politicians hype about "decoupling" violates objective laws, which cannot allow the country's economy to develop healthily and disrupt the normal trade cooperation between the two sides. In addition, it is probably not so easy for European countries to get rid of China's existence and influence in their own economic development in a short period of time. Taking Germany as an example, China has become Germany's largest trading partner. has become for many years and has been the most important trading partner of Germany. Germany has also become China's most important trading partner in the EU. Nearly one-third of China-Europe trade comes from Sino-German trade. These are all accumulated by the political and business circles of China and Germany over the years.
Last year, after the news that COSCO Group wanted to acquire 25% of the shares in Hamburg Port, Germany was actually not very strongly responding to this. However, due to the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict this year, Russia has suspended the delivery of natural gas to EU countries.This has caused energy crises in many countries, and some countries have begun to re-provide the topic of chain security. The EU has also begun to regard China as a strategic competitor, so Chinese-funded companies want to acquire shares in important infrastructure have been opposed by some government departments. German Minister of Economic Affairs Habek also used this to express the claim that "get rid of the German economy's dependence on China." However, as mentioned above, China is Germany's most important trading partner, and keeping China out through hype related topics will only affect the normal operation of Germany's economy.
In fact, China has always been a stable and reliable source of supply chains for EU countries, and there is no way to talk about the concerns of the European Commission . On the contrary, , the Western world, has long imposed a technological embargo on China. The concept of judging others by oneself will naturally make the EU think that China will take action. Judging from the obstruction of the normal cooperation between Chinese-funded enterprises and German enterprises by German federal government departments, the voice of "anti-globalization" within Germany cannot be ignored. However, for most German companies, they are not willing to refuse cooperation from China.
Germany gives China two big gifts? In fact, it is mutual achievement
. For Hamburg Port, the investment of Chinese companies can bring new vitality to Hamburg Port, which will bring new development opportunities to Germany. Regarding the doubts of federal government departments that Chinese-funded enterprises are worried that they will "invade" Germany's critical infrastructure, the Hamburg Port and Logistics Company gave detailed explanations. In fact, the investment of Chinese companies will not interfere with the normal operation of Hamburg Port, because COSCO Group is only a tenant of infrastructure and its holder is still the Hamburg Municipal Government. The capital injection of Chinese-funded enterprises makes Hamburg Port more competitive and creates many job opportunities. In the long run, COSCO Group's investment will also help other leading shipping companies to settle in and industrial agglomeration.
The German government approved the automotive chip production business of Siemiconductor Technology in Germany, Elmers Semiconductor Technology, is also a positive signal. However, the latest news is that neither Siewei Electronics nor its domestic and foreign subsidiaries have received any official decision or document from the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action on the results of the foreign direct investment approval of this acquisition transaction. This decision is only approved by Scholz in principle, and whether it can be implemented depends on the final review results.
Sai Microelectronics plans to acquire the automotive chip production business of Germany's Elmers Semiconductor Technology Company since the end of last year, and signed an equity acquisition agreement with the latter. However, according to German policy, foreign acquisition of equity must be reviewed and approved by the German Ministry of Economic Affairs. As the German economy tightens investment activities of Chinese-funded enterprises in Germany, some companies are also worried that their plans to acquire German companies will also be affected. However, judging from Scholz's recent statement, he generally affirms this. If the review goes smoothly, the final cooperation should not be a problem.
Based on the above situations, it can be seen that against the background of Scholz's upcoming visit to China, the German government has indeed sent some positive signals one after another. However, it is too early to conclude that everything is going to be fine. In the context of a collective right-right turn in European politics, the anti-globalization right-wing political groups have had a great impact on their government policies. What is the prospect of cooperation between China and the EU? It still needs to be done step by step and see.
