- Analyst Viking Bohman: Lithuania should not back down
- German State Secretary for Economic Affairs visits Vilnius
- Car brand Seres comes to Germany – without Huawei
- BMW figures surpass VWs sales
- Expansion of production of solar base material
- Inequality: China focuses on social housing construction
- Two Uyghurs face extradition
- Talks in the Middle East and around the Indian Ocean
- Profile: Carsten Liske from Chiron
- Executive Moves: Michael Mueller becomes China rapporteur of the German SPD
German Green Party politician Franziska Brantner is State-Secretary in the newly formed Ministry of Economics under Robert Habeck. On Tuesday, Brantner visited the Lithuanian capital to hold talks. The choice of destination was, of course, no coincidence for the former MEP. Brantner showed support for Lithuania, which had clashed with China over a Taiwan office.
Swedish ex-diplomat and political advisor Viking Bohman assesses the matter for us. In an interview with Amelie Richter, he explains, “It would be bad for the EU and its credibility if China was able to force Lithuania to backtrack.” It was not about winning and losing here, but about realpolitik. By backing down, Beijing would learn that intimidation is effective against Europe.
Meanwhile, Bohman fears a fatal miscalculation in the preparation of the future EU instrument against economic coercion. Its strategy is based on the assumption that China will change its behavior as soon as the EU has such an instrument. This is wrong. While it is true that the EU is driving up the economic costs of intimidation attempts, China under Xi, however, is willing to accept these costs to achieve its policy goals. The result would be ever more tiring trench warfare, as we are currently experiencing over Lithuania.
The preparation of the anti-coercion instrument is thus a perfect example of the poor level of information about China, which sinologist Klaus Muehlhahn has already pointed out in China.Table. Political decisions with major implications are currently being made without the ability to assess China’s reaction beforehand.
Has Huawei joined the ranks of car manufacturers or not? We answer this question in today’s profile of the Chinese company Seres, one of Huawei’s cooperation partners. The EV specialist has a colorful company history, in which German managers have also played a part.
Finn Mayer-Kuckuk
Interview
‘There is a lot to learn from the actions of the Lithuanian government’
Lithuania is the latest example of economic coercion from Beijing, but it is not the first. Can you give us a brief overview?
So the first thing to say is that Beijing’s economic coercion is not a new phenomenon. Other countries have been subject to similar measures in recent years. We have Australia, following its request for an inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 virus. We have Canada, following the arrest of Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, and we have South Korea following its decision to install a US missile defense system. There have also been many cases in the European Union, including in Sweden, where economic coercion has taken the form of travel warnings to restrict tourism, canceled business delegations and talks, as well as the pressure on specific companies. Most recently, it was in response to a decision that excluded Huawei and ZTE from parts of Sweden’s telecommunication networks. What is happening in Lithuania, however, is at a whole new level compared to what we have seen before.
Has economic coercion from China increased in recent years?
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