Status: December 21, 2021 5:29 p.m.
In a phone call with Chancellor Scholz, China’s President Xi urged the company to stick to the current course. He apparently hopes that Scholz himself determines the relationship – and not the Foreign Ministry.
China’s head of state and party leader Xi Jinping is hoping for continuity in relation to Germany under the new Chancellor Olaf Scholz. In a telephone conversation with Scholz, Xi advocated that both sides “stay on course” in the development of the relationship. They should also preserve the “excellent tradition of high-level leadership,” the state media quoted the president as saying.
The statement suggests that Xi hopes that Scholz, like his predecessor Angela Merkel (CDU), will continue to determine German China policy – and not the new Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who has already been clearly critical of China.
Against a “cold war mentality”
According to the state broadcaster CCTV, Xi advocated that regional problems should be resolved through dialogue and that a “cold war mentality” should be resolutely rejected. Germany and China should also actively explore new fields of cooperation, for example in the field of renewable energies and the digital economy. German companies are welcome to seize the opportunities that would result from the opening of China.
Conversely, according to the report, Xi expressed the hope that Germany would offer a fair business environment for Chinese companies that wanted to invest in Germany.
From the German side there was only a very short explanation of the conversation, in which government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit named a selection of the topics: deepening the bilateral partnership and economic relations, developing EU-China relations and “international issues”.
Criticized for human rights violations
China has been criticized for violating human rights in its dealings with Uyghurs and Tibetans, for suppressing the democracy movement in Hong Kong, and for threats against Taiwan. The USA had therefore announced a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics. So far, Scholz had responded evasively to questions as to whether Germany would join in.
Despite this, Chancellor Merkel had refrained from taking a hard line against China over the past few years and opted for dialogue – which was not particularly well received in the USA.