Beijing (AFP) – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz touched down in China on Wednesday, beginning his inaugural visit to his country’s largest trade partner and a high-tech rival as Europe’s biggest economy struggles. Berlin and Beijing want to build on their decades-old economic ties at a time when US President Donald Trump has sparked global chaos with his tariffs blitz and other erratic foreign policy moves. But Merz is also expected to stress German and European interests in his talks on Wednesday with President Xi Jinping, including by urging him to put pressure on China’s ally Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
China, the world’s number two economy, overtook the United States last year to become Germany’s biggest trade partner, but Berlin also regards the Communist Party-run state as a systemic rival to the West. Merz is the latest in a string of Western leaders courting Beijing in recent months, including Britain’s Keir Starmer, France’s Emmanuel Macron, and Canada’s Mark Carney, as they recoil from the mercurial policies of Trump, who is also expected from March 31. Merz said on Friday he was going to Beijing, with a large business delegation in tow, in part because export-dependent Germany needs “economic relations all over the world.”
“But we should be under no illusions,” he added, pointing out that China, as a rival to the United States, now “claims the right to define a new multilateral order according to its own rules.” Soon after landing, Merz met with Premier Li Qiang in Beijing’s opulent Great Hall of the People, where representatives from both sides signed agreements and memorandums including on climate change and food security. Merz stressed the importance of deepening relations, but added “we have very specific concerns regarding our cooperation, which we want to improve and make fair.”
In an apparent allusion to the United States, Li noted that “unilateralism and protectionism have gained ground, and even become prevalent, in some countries and regions.” “Against such a backdrop, China and Germany, as two major economies in the world with significant influence, should…jointly safeguard multilateralism and free trade,” Li said. China under Xi has grown far more assertive on the world stage, built up its military, stressed its claim to self-ruled Taiwan, and pushed back strongly against criticism of its human rights record.
Flexing its muscle at times of tension, Beijing has restricted exports of critical minerals used in products from microchips and wind turbines to electric-car batteries and weapons systems. Last year, Beijing temporarily halted the export of Nexperia chips to Europe following a dispute with the Dutch government. More broadly, European businesses complain that China, with its low domestic demand, is flooding Europe with goods made cheap through state subsidies and an undervalued currency. Germany’s trade deficit with China hit a record 89 billion euros ($105 billion) last year.
– ‘Systemic competition’ – As Trump has unsettled allies and rivals alike, China has nonetheless also sought to present itself as a reliable partner and defender of the multilateral order. China’s top diplomat Wang Yi told Merz at the Munich Security Conference this month that Beijing hoped to bring ties “to a new level” and wanted Germany to be a “stabilising anchor for strategic relations” in the European Union. Merz, like his predecessors Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz, is joined by business leaders including executives of auto giants Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes.
On Thursday, Merz is to visit Beijing’s Forbidden City, then a Mercedes plant where autonomous driving vehicles will be presented. The chancellor then travels to AI hub Hangzhou to visit the robotics group Unitree and German turbine maker Siemens Energy. German businesses have given Merz a to-do list on his trip. “We expect the chancellor to clearly address problems such as overcapacity, distortions of competition, and export controls on critical raw materials,” said Wolfgang Niedermark of the Federation of German Industries.
German and European companies in China are not only “competing with highly innovative Chinese firms” but are also players in a “state-driven systemic competition.” Merz should advocate for “structural reforms to strengthen domestic demand and fairer competitive conditions” in China, he said, warning that without change there will be “new trade conflicts with the EU.”
© 2024 AFP
