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Habeck drafts own China strategy
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Dear reader,

The first leak of Germany’s China strategy is now followed by a second one. After the Foreign Ministry, now the Ministry of Economics has also leaked a hefty paper on its plans to the media. The business community is not pleased with such indiscretions: China is far too important an issue to be pulverized in a power play.

Habeck’s paper is certainly an interesting read, even if it does not present any new ideas in the current debate. Clearly, Germany is to reduce its dependencies. Its scope becomes clear when compared to the economic policy of the previous government. Here, the document marks a clear turnaround. In foreign policy terms, Habeck also provides a prognosis of a possible assault on Taiwan. It is definitely alarming, but Michael Radunski and Finn Mayer-Kuckuk analyze how realistic it is.

EU Council President Charles Michel and Xi Jinping had much to discuss during their meeting in Beijing. But Xi’s time was limited – no wonder since he had to receive Jiang Zemin’s body in its glass coffin with bows at the airport on the same day. Amelie Richter summarizes where Xi and Michel see common ground and where China and the EU are at odds.

Your
Julia Fiedler

Feature

Habeck forges own China strategy

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck has formulated his own China strategy. The 100-page document is a clear departure from the course of his predecessors. It follows the line of Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, but certainly not that of Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Habeck also causes uproar with a comment on Taiwan.

Robert Habeck apparently does not want to wait any longer, neither on the Foreign Office and certainly not on the Chancellery. So he prepared his own China strategy in his ministry. The 100-page document is marked as classified: Classified. In other words, it is not intended for the public eye. Nevertheless, the media service “Pioneer” obtained a copy and reports on a highly China-critical concept. Habeck wants to reduce the German economy’s dependence on China as quickly as possible.

When the Chinese shipping company Cosco acquired a stake in the Port of Hamburg, Robert Habeck had to grudgingly stand by and watch (China.Table reported). However, Habeck was able to prevent the takeover of the Dortmund chip manufacturer Elmos (China.Table reported). He fears that such deals could give China too much influence over Germany’s critical infrastructure and important industries. Therefore, he pushes ahead with his own draft.

He wants to make the German economy more resilient to risks that could arise from a forced exclusion from the Chinese market. They are not supposed to disappear completely, but Germany should not be susceptible to blackmail.
To this end, German companies are to rely less on supplies from China on the one hand and sell a smaller share of their exports in China on the other.
First, however, the ministry wants to determine how strong the dependency actually is. So far, there is no precise data on this.

The paper corresponds in all mentioned points to the draft China strategy from the Foreign Office (China.Table reported). It could either serve as a sub-strategy for the economic sector or be integrated into the overall strategy as a contribution from the Ministry of Economics. The green-led ministries apparently seem to be pulling in the same direction here.

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