- After the election: Germany’s China policy to change?
- Fellow Chinese speakers look ahead to the elections
- Hostage swap: Huawei finance chief for two Canadians
- Germany reviews Lithuania’s smartphone warning
- Josep Borrell and Wang Yi: talks on Tuesday
- British nuclear project likely without China
- Quad: US pushes another alliance without EU
- HNA top management arrested
- End for cryptocurrencies
- Opinion: Xi threatens to fail on corruption after all
It’s done; a long election night is behind us – with the expected close result. Now the wait for the formation of a new government begins. It will be weeks or even months before we know the fundamentals of Germany’s new foreign and China policy. Even the so-called heavyweight round on election night did not bring any clarity on this. However, most experts abroad expect a stricter line from a new government, regardless of its color. Beijing, Brussels, and Washington are likely awaiting the coalition negotiations eagerly. Based on our conversations with foreign policy experts from all political groups, Finn Mayer-Kuckuk once again analyses the potential impact of possible scenarios on essential elements of China policy.
If you are interested in a dossier containing all eight of our interviews with key foreign policymakers, please email us at china@table.media. In it, you will find interviews with Nils Schmid, the foreign policy spokesman of the SPD parliamentary group; the deputy speaker of parliament Hans-Peter Friedrich of the CSU; or the Green candidate for chancellor Annalena Baerbock.
Meanwhile, Marcel Grzanna asked the Chinese-speaking community in Germany what kind of China policy they hoped for from a new federal government. He heard very different expectations – depending on the origin of the respondents.
But this weekend was not just about the German federal election – there was also a wealth of important China news. So be warned: Today’s edition of China.Table is chock-full of them.
Fabian Kretschmer, Frank Sieren, and Amelie Richter analyze the sudden end to the diplomatic crisis between China, the US, and Canada over the house arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou and the detention of two Canadians in China. Also today, for example, British nuclear power plants without China, American security alliances in the Indo-Pacific, and security concerns from Lithuania about smartphones made by Chinese brands.
I wish you an exciting read,
Christiane Kühl
Feature
After the election: Germany’s China policy before the turnaround?
Foreign and trade policy played only a minor role in the recent election campaign. But the relationship with the EU, the US and China will have a concrete impact on the lives of German citizens in the coming years. Through questions of competitiveness and market access, trade policy influences the business of medium-sized and large companies alike.
Fortunately, the German parties agree on one point: China is no longer a distant sales market, but a rival, competitor and partner at the same time. But when it comes to the question of the best answers to these new challenges, the parties’ statements contain different concepts. At the same time, the reference to the EU seems increasingly unsatisfactory because it does not speak with one voice.
CAI: The investment agreement, also controversial among the parties
The handling of the CAI investment agreement is a case in point. The outgoing German government pushed for its conclusion last year. Outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel makes no secret of the fact that she thinks it makes sense: CAI commits China to more honesty in opening its markets. But the agreement also became a symbol of her government’s supposedly overly lenient China policy.
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