Status: 25.10.2022 06:58 a.m
In the dispute over the entry of the Chinese state-owned company Cosco at a Hamburg port terminal, a solution is in the offing. According to media reports, the ministries have agreed that Cosco should have fewer shares and thus less influence.
According to unanimous media reports, a compromise in the dispute over the possible participation of the state-owned Chinese shipping company Cosco in a container terminal in Hamburg is emerging within the federal government.
According to this, the federal ministries involved are said to have agreed that Cosco may only take over 24.9 percent of the operator of the Tollerort terminal, HHLA, instead of the 35 percent previously planned. As a minority shareholder, the group would then not be able to exert any formal influence on the management. The Chancellery, which recently supported Cosco’s entry against the resistance of all the relevant ministries, apparently wants to make the planned participation possible.
Next many critical voices
Several departments had recently pleaded for a rejection. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are said to have made it clear yesterday that they do not consider even a smaller participation by Cosco to be a good solution. It is unclear whether the topic will be discussed in the cabinet tomorrow. Without a cabinet decision, the review period would expire at the end of October and Cosco would be able to buy a 35 percent stake.
There was also criticism from the traffic light groups and the CDU – including from Green Party leader Omid Nouripour: “It should actually go without saying that such a deal should be prohibited.” Nouripour referred to the experience with the gas problem from Russia. It must now finally be understood that critical infrastructure should not simply be sold to a country “of which we all know that it is ready without batting an eyelid to exploit our dependence politically,” said the Greens leader.
The chairman of the Europe Committee in the Bundestag, Anton Hofreiter, asked the Reuters news agency for a Europe-wide ban on companies from authoritarian states entering critical infrastructure such as ports. In addition, China must sell the Greek port of Piraeus again, he demanded. The China Institute Merics warned of the risks of the Cosco business. Analyst Jacob Gunter told the German Press Agency that Cosco is an instrument used by the Chinese government to advance its strategic goals.
Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein are hoping for a deal
The city of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein’s Prime Minister Daniel Günther are calling for Cosco to get involved. HHLA, which is majority owned by the Hanseatic city, hopes to strengthen Germany’s largest seaport, which has lost ground to its larger competitors Rotterdam and Antwerp in the past.
Cosco also operates the world’s fourth-largest shipping company, whose container ships have been handled by HHLA for 40 years. In return for the stake, the group wants to make the container terminal a preferred transhipment point in Europe.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz is planning a trip to China next week. He had rejected criticism of a possible Chinese participation at the EU summit on Friday.