Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang will not only travel to Berlin for the German-Chinese government consultations in the coming week, but also to Bavaria. According to information from Süddeutsche Zeitung Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) will receive him in Munich on Tuesday evening. On Thursday, a spokesman for the State Chancellery confirmed the meeting upon request. Li and Söder will therefore talk about economic relations between China and Bavaria, about fair competition and climate change. “Reminders about the rule of law” are also an issue. High-ranking representatives of the Bavarian economy will also be present at the reception.
Overall, the Chinese head of government’s trip to Germany is considered highly sensitive, since his country is at the same time a partner, competitor and systemic rival for the Federal Republic. Seen in this way, a detour to Munich would make the trip even more unusual: quite a few Bavarian municipalities have maintained partnerships with Chinese cities and regions for years, including trips by delegations. In most cases, however, this is an exchange at the local level. From the Chinese point of view, Bavaria is just one market among many.
In any case, little would work in Bavaria without the “Middle Kingdom”: The state is the most important trading partner. Prosperity here and interests there somehow went together for a long time despite all the differences. The extent to which this applies to the future is, however, the question in view of the increasingly authoritarian appearance of the partner, including in the Bavarian state parliament. “Dialogue is the only right option in an increasingly global world,” says the state chancellery spokesman about Li’s visit.
In February, an expert hearing in the state parliament tried to get to the bottom of “China’s subnational diplomacy” and the resulting complicated network of relationships between Bavaria and China – but soon reached its limits due to a lack of data. It was therefore suggested, among other things, to create more networking between Bavarian municipalities in order to learn more about Chinese activities in the Free State. The state government needs “more China expertise,” said the European policy spokesman for the Greens, Florian Siekmann, at the hearing.