STORY: According to Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, the federal government could take a sharper course against China in trade policy in the future. The motto of the new strategy is to no longer be naïve, the Federal Minister of Economics said in an interview with the Reuters news agency on Tuesday. “If China adheres to the principles that make value-based trade possible, China is a welcome partner. But we should no longer allow ourselves to be blackmailed, either if China intervenes in the fairness of trade, i.e. if companies are subsidized by the state so that they can gain competitive advantages have still blackmailed companies into only being able to partially participate in trade if, for example, they set up industrial production there, but certainly not if human rights are affected. And investments from China to Europe should also be viewed much more critically. We have seen that that China is actually trying to secure strategic infrastructure assets in Europe with this new Silk Road initiative, and can then influence European trade policy, German trade policy. We should not allow that.” In this context, the Greens politician also commented on the entry plans of a major Chinese shipping company at a container terminal in Hamburg. “Yes, I am leaning in the direction that we do not allow that, because it is true that the container port of Tollerort is only a small part of the entire port in Hamburg, but China already has an influence on the trade and political orientation of the port through this part Port of Hamburg can take. That’s why we checked it and many departments have signed. There is still no cabinet referral, but in fact I think overall that we should be more critical of Chinese investment in Europe.”