{"id":1474527,"date":"2024-07-01T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T11:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1474527"},"modified":"2024-07-01T07:30:00","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T11:30:00","slug":"germany-has-shifted-china-strategy-amid-beijings-changing-behavior-german-diplomat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/germany-has-shifted-china-strategy-amid-beijings-changing-behavior-german-diplomat\/1474527\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany Has Shifted China Strategy Amid Beijing’s Changing Behavior: German Diplomat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Germany Has Shifted China Strategy Amid Beijing’s Changing Behavior: German Diplomat<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Aaron Pan via The Epoch Times<\/a> (emphasis ours),<\/em><\/p>\n

The Chinese regime\u2019s changing behavior toward the international community has forced Germany to revisit its China policy,<\/strong> according to a top German diplomat.<\/p>\n

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks during a press conference in Beijing on April 16, 2024. (Andres Martinez Casares\/Pool\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking during a foreign policy event at the Hudson Institute on June 28, Director-General for Foreign Affairs Thomas Bagger, the state secretary of the German Foreign Ministry, stated that Germany\u2019s position on China, based on its tripartite approach\u2014as a partner, competitor, and systemic rival\u2014has shifted to rival.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite clear that the emphasis has shifted from a focus on partnership and cooperation to more competition and even more rivalry<\/strong>,\u201d Mr. Bagger said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Bagger noted that Germany is now changing its approach to China, focusing on de-risking and reducing dependence on Beijing, particularly after the COVID pandemic. This includes reducing reliance on China for medical equipment, basic medical supplies, and raw materials for technology. He acknowledged that decoupling China \u201cwould hurt our economy tremendously.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Bagger said Germany is being open with Beijing about its changing behavior. \u201cChina\u2019s approach to us, to its neighbors, to the international arena has changed in a way that forces us to revisit our own China policy. This is a reaction to your behavior,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Last year, Germany unveiled its first-ever Strategy on China<\/a>,<\/strong> marking its strategic shift to reduce economic dependence on China. The strategy provides a framework to enhance fair cooperation with China in line with German values and interests.<\/p>\n

During the event, Mr. Bagger noted that unlike the United States, which considers China a geopolitical challenge, Germany has its own approach to China.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not America\u2019s poodle. We may agree with the Americans on many of these issues, especially on [the] South China Sea, Chinese behavior that needs to respect international law, but not on everything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Bagger also warned that the Chinese regime\u2019s support for Russia\u2019s military efforts in its war with Ukraine, hurts German and European core interests,\u00a0 and could damage Beijing\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf and when China continues to violate Europe\u2019s core interest in security on the European continent, this will have an increasing cost on China,<\/strong>\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you continue to support Russia\u2019s war effort against Ukraine, that will have consequences also for our bilateral and European-Chinese relationship.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

Complicated Trading Partner<\/h2>\n

China has been Germany\u2019s top trading partner Germany since 2015. However, in the first quarter of this year, the United States replaced China in the top position. Germany\u2019s trade with the United States\u2014exports and imports combined\u2014totaled 63 billion euros ($68 billion) from January to March, while the figure for China was just less than 60 billion euros, the data<\/a> showed.<\/p>\n

In 2023, China was Germany\u2019s top trading partner for the eighth year in a row, with volumes reaching 253 billion euros ($27o billion), although that was only a few hundred million ahead of the United States.<\/p>\n

On June 12, the European Union announced it will impose<\/a> 38.1 percent tariffs on imported Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) starting July after an eight-month investigation. The bloc accused Beijing of unfair subsidization. This move follows Washington\u2019s decision last month to increase<\/a> tariffs on Chinese EVs from 25 percent to 100 percent.<\/p>\n

However, Germany opposed the EU tariff hike, as its major automakers, like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen, fear they could be hit by China\u2019s retaliatory tariffs. These companies have massive automobile production plants in the country that benefit from tax incentives and Beijing\u2019s subsidy policies.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, business confidence among European companies in China has declined since last year, <\/strong>according to a recent survey by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China in its report \u201cEuropean Business in China Business Confidence Survey 2024.\u201d A record 68 percent of companies reported that business has become more challenging in the world\u2019s second-largest economy.<\/p>\n

The survey found that European companies in China are experiencing uncertainties instead of enjoying robust recovery as expected. The report states that China\u2019s structural issues\u2014such as slowing demand, increasing overcapacity, and an ongoing downturn in the property sector\u2014as well as market access and regulatory barriers, keep hitting European companies.<\/p>\n

The survey noted that the strategies these companies use to adapt to China\u2019s business environment could create a negative cycle for China, worsening the country\u2019s economic difficulties.<\/p>\n

Reuters contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nMon, 07\/01\/2024 – 03:30<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/geopolitical\/germany-has-shifted-china-strategy-amid-beijings-changing-behavior-german-diplomat<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Germany Has Shifted China Strategy Amid Beijing’s Changing Behavior: German Diplomat Authored by Aaron Pan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The Chinese regime\u2019s changing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1474528,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1474527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1474527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1474527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1474527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1474528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1474527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1474527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1474527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}