Interview with Nils Schmid + AutoX + Chilli sauce billionaire • China.Table

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Dear reader,

Since last week, the German Wahl-O-Mat (Vote-o-meter) by the Federal Agency for Civic Education can be used for guidance ahead of the Bundestag elections in 2021. However, China only makes a brief appearance with one question on the expansion of communications. There are no questions regarding major foreign policy or even EU-China relations. If you speak German, we recommend the Sin-O-Mat – the Vote-o-meter for China issues. With it, you are able to picture what the German parties think about CAI, Taiwan or the BRI.

With the election campaign entering its final stages, China.Table also takes a look at the German parties’ positions on China policy. To kick off our series on the federal elections, foreign policy spokesman of the SPD parliamentary group, Nils Schmid, explains in an interview with Michael Radunski what challenges he sees on the part of Beijing. The SPD chairman of the German Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee also gives his opinion on where Angela Merkel’s China policy has failed. Till September 26, we will present you with more interviews with top German politicians.

Whether German voters would let themselves be chauffeured through rush-hour traffic by Chinese robot taxis is not a question asked in either the “Wahl-O-Mat” or the “Sin-O-Mat” – but a sensational video could now spark interest: In a clip by AutoX, the Chinese leader in autonomous driving, backed by Alibaba and Shanghai Motors, a car steers smoothly through a busy street – all without a human driver. Frank Sieren investigated what makes the start-up AutoX so special.

Your
Amelie Richter

Feature

“Merkel’s China policy is outdated”

Nils Schmid is concerned: China poses a serious challenge, he says, because it is taking place in an area in which Germany and the West have hitherto considered themselves unrivaled. Angela Merkel’s China policy will not get us very far, the SPD foreign policy expert warns. The behavior of the German economy is also not a credit to the country. It is high time for a new German China policy. This interview was conducted by Michael Radunski. Here can find more interviews with top representatives of German politics ahead of the 2021 federal elections.

Disclaimer: This interview has been translated into English and is not considered an official translation by any party involved in the interview

The West is experiencing its biggest debacle in recent history in Afghanistan. In China, on the other hand, President Xi Jinping is the strong man. Is China about to overtake the West?

No, I do not see this risk. But there is certainly a serious Chinese challenge – and that challenge is much broader than it was during the Cold War with the Soviet Union. China is a military power, is building its nuclear arsenal, and it’s modernizing its army, but Beijing has also managed to be economically and technologically successful despite an authoritarian rule. This makes the People’s Republic attractive in areas where the West has so far reigned supreme. We need to deal with this now.

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