Cosco stake + Balloon saga + Climate action

Cosco’s stake in the Port of Hamburg is still pending. The deadline for an agreement has long since expired. This raises two questions in particular: If deadlines do not matter in this context, why do we set them at all? But even more intriguing is the question of why Cosco is not swooping in?

After all, the Chinese state-owned shipping company stands to gain a 24.9 percent stake in a terminal. But now it hesitates. The reasons are anyone’s guess. Could it be that Cosco does not want to spend the money if it cannot influence the decision of the port administration? A tiny fraction of shares is missing for that.

One conclusion could be that the state-owned company is only interested in political influence rather than in the prospect of good business after all. This provides valuable clues about the intentions behind future investments from China in critical German, but also European infrastructure. And it provides food for thought for the future. Because politics still has no clear line, as Christiane Kuehl writes.

Michael Radunkski, on the other hand, is once again busy with balloons today. It is quite comical to see who is now spotting such spy objects in the skies above their territory and where. From zero to one hundred in less than a week. It is not only that Taiwan casually explains that such balloons are sighted almost every week.

China portrays itself as the biggest victim. Beijing is now accusing the USA of using its technical superiority against them. It complains about an uneven espionage playing field, so to speak. Hence the following proposal: China provides fair market access for foreign companies and in return, the Americans turn a blind lens to foreign snooping.

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Marcel Grzanna