Opinion | German Chancellor Scholz in China – What are his goals?

By Augustus K. Yeung

The last time when French President Emmanuel Macron visited China, President Xi Jinping took him to Guang Dong, where Xi and his late father have been building their legacy, the Greater Bay Area mega project; this time around, German Chancellor Scholz toured the ancient mountain city of Chongqing with young architects – and was on a boat cruise going down the famed Yangtze River, which was made even more famous by the Tang Dynasty great Chinese poet Li Bei (701-762) whose poem "Boating Downstream to Jiang Ling" is among the world's most beloved and popular piece of poetry.

The pragmatic German Chancellor Olaf Schulz arrived in China on Sunday, April 14 on a three-day visit – focused on the increasingly tense economic relationship between the two sides and differences over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to the Macau Daily Times.

Scholz's first destination was China's ancient city of Chongqing, now an industrial hub, where he and his delegation of ministers and business leaders were to visit a partially German-funded company and other sites in the vast city, which is a production base for China's auto and other industries.

Scholtz is also scheduled to visit the financial hub of Shanghai during his three-day visit, before travelling to Beijing, the capital to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang.

German companies such as BMW and Volkswagen are highly reliant on the Chinese market, but Beijing's support for Russia creates frictions with the West.

Germany's economy has benefited from China's demand for investment and manufactured items from cars to chemicals, but those ties have frayed – amid increasing competition from Chinese companies and tightened regulations. Political interference has also been blamed for a sharp drop in foreign investment.

German companies have argued they face unfair market barriers in China and the government has pushed for a policy of "de-risking" to reduce reliance on the Chinese market and suppliers.

Despite that, China remained Germany's top trading partner for the eighth straight year in 2023, with 254.1 billion euros ($271 billion) in goods and services exchanged between the sides, slightly more than what Germany traded with the U.S. but a 15.5% contraction from the year before. German exports to China totaled 97.3 billion euros ($104 billion), according to Germany's Federal Statistical Office, although figures have varied depending on exchange rate fluctuations and rounding of numbers.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV showed Scholz descending from his plane in Chongqing and leaving in a motorcade but did not carry any comments made to the welcoming delegation.

Prior to his arrival, Scholz posted on social platform X he had discussed the "massive" Russian air attacks on civilian energy infrastructure with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday and declared that Berlin will "stand unbreakably byUkraine's side."

China has maintained trade relations with President Vladimir Putin's government and aligned its foreign policy with Moscow in opposition to the U.S.-led liberal political order.

After visiting a hydrogen motor production facility run by German firm Bosch, Scholz toured the city with young architects and was to go on a boat cruise on the famed Yangtze River, one of two mighty waterways that partly surrounded the city perched on overlooking cliffs.

Following a visit to Shanghai (Monday), Scholz will fly to Beijing and meet with Xi (Tuesday) at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse before being received with military honors by Li at the Great Hall of the People, the seat of the ceremonial legislature in the heart of the Chinese capital. Further visits and meetings will follow before he departs late Wednesday night.

This is Scholz's second trip to China since he became chancellor in late 2022 and essentially was a one-day trip because of the strict COVID restrictions still in place at the time.

It is his first visit since the German government last year presented its China strategy, which met with criticism from Beijing. Premier Li and a delegation of senior officials visited Berlin in June. (Source: MDT/AP)

Why is the German chancellor in China, and what are his goals?

"Strengthening Sino-German economic cooperation, rebalancing the trade rebalancing the trade relations between the European Union and China, and seeking solutions to hotspot issues are reportedly the three goals of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's ongoing visit to China from Sunday to Tuesday," the China Daily editorial remarked.

To me, two concepts, politics, and economy, are the two things that the German chancellor has in mind, not ideological differences: Politically, Mr. Scholz wants to be publicly seen and recognized as seriously on the side of Ukraine, a country that is now beginning to doubt America's financial, and military supports as was recently indicated by the U.S. Congress, which has threatened to curtail its commitments as pledged by Joe Biden.

While President Biden is preparing to cope with the election challenge poses by Donald Trump, the former president, the German, and the French are also preparing for the worst-case scenario that if Donald Trump wins the presidential election, these two leading European countries are now preparing to take over the responsibilities from their American allies. This also explains why – the German chancellor had met with Zelensky – shortly before he left Europe.

The other motivation is the economic challenge that German companies in China are facing: Scholz wants to secure a "level playing field" so that Germany's key firms in China can continue to do profitable business as it had been doing well before the COVID pandemic. Germany's China strategy is also posing a challenge for their Chinese counterparts.

For China, both Germany and France are two leading countries in Europe, which may be less of a challenge for China compared with the United States – which has biasedly listed China as the top rival, topping Russia's threat.

The U.S. presidential election in November is a common factor that Germany, France, and China must take into serious considerations – just in case Donald Trump gate-crashed back to the White House.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.

To contact the writer, please direct email: AugustusKYeung@ymail.com

Read more articles by Augustus K. Yeung:

Opinion | Sino-US stories of ambivalence and rivalry: Then and now

Opinion | Chinese leader: embrace a 'brighter future' through joint action

Opinion | Indonesian President-elect is visiting Beijing – to forge deeper cooperation

Opinion | Xi Jinping walks with U.S. top brass – Talks are 'open and frank'