German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has returned from her brief stay in China. She spoke with her counterpart Wang Yi for three and a half hours in Beijing. The latter will work hard to foster practical cooperation – but Baerbock remained firm in her positions. Two topics in particular concerned the Green Party politician, writes Angela Köckritz, who also traveled to the Chinese capital: “Drones from Chinese factories and North Korean troops attacking peace in the center of Europe violate our core European security interests,” Baerbock said.
There was no joint press conference. Wang Yi issued a press release via the Chinese Foreign Ministry in which he stated: “There are differences and disagreements,” but these “should not be a reason for confrontation.”
Meanwhile, temperatures in northern China are also freezing. Over one million households in many parts of northern China will stay warm this year thanks to an emerging clean energy source: geothermal energy. It is currently being expanded on a large scale in China as part of diversifying non-fossil energy sources. You Xiaoying explains the potential and challenges of the technology.
To keep up in the race for critical raw materials, Europe finally needs to make Africa better offers, demands Safri Chairman Thomas Schäfer on the occasion of the German-African Business Summit. This also includes a stronger focus on local value creation, he says.
Have an exciting read!
Security issues were the main focus of the three-and-a-half-hour meeting between German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing on Monday. It was their third meeting this year. “Direct and honest channels are more important than ever. We need to talk most intensively with those with whom we disagree,” said Baerbock in the following press conference, where she stepped alone in front of German and international media. Wang Yi, on the other hand, did not face the press.
Ten years ago, Wang was still open to questions from journalists, but nowadays, the Chinese government avoids contact with foreign media whenever possible. This is probably all the more true when the German Foreign Minister is present, who had a heated exchange with Wang’s predecessor Qin Gang in front of the assembled press one and a half years ago. Baerbock’s statement before her departure already foreshadowed that this press conference would not be characterized by the greatest harmony either: “Instead of shouldering responsibility for peace and security in the world as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China is going against our core European interests by providing economic and military aid to Russia.”
Two issues in particular concerned Baerbock. “Drones from Chinese factories and North Korean troops attacking peace in the center of Europe violate our core European security interests,” Baerbock said.
According to European intelligence information, Chinese and Russian companies have jointly developed and tested a lethal long-range drone called Garpiya 3 in China, which is to be used in the Russian campaign against Ukraine. There are also reportedly plans for a Russian-Chinese drone research and development center in the Kashgar Special Economic Zone in Xinjiang. The Chinese Foreign Minister referred to internal investigations by the companies in question. “Supporting a brutal war of aggression would be a breach of international law,” Baerbock explained at the press conference. And made a somewhat veiled reference to “consultations that are now underway in the European Union.”
Specifically, this means that Germany and other EU member states plan to initiate sanctions against the Chinese companies involved. The European Union had already placed 19 Chinese companies on its existing sanctions list in June as part of a package of measures against Russia. These include two important players in the Chinese satellite industry.
In mid-October, the US sanctioned two Chinese companies in connection with the production of Garpiya. The US had previously sanctioned Chinese companies for exporting dual-use goods to Russia. However, these are the first US sanctions against Chinese companies for “developing and producing complete weapons systems in partnership with Russian firms,” according to the relevant document from the US Department of the Treasury.
According to Baerbock, North Korea was also the subject of intensive discussions. “I have noticed concerns on the Chinese side about what North Korean activities could mean for the Korean peninsula.” North Korean soldiers support Putin’s campaign. The international community has expressed concern that Putin could return the favor with military technology that could advance North Korea’s nuclear program.
“The security of Europe and Asia are indivisibly linked. The Russian President is not only destroying our peace order through his war in Ukraine, but is now also dragging Asia into it via North Korea,” said Baerbock. Furthermore, Europe’s security and stability is linked to security and stability in the Indo-Pacific, explained Baerbock. “This concerns massive, unannounced military exercises off Taiwan, as well as the aggressive, provocative behavior in the South China Sea.”
The minister also stressed the importance of Germany’s core interests in economic relations. “China is our second largest trading partner. 5,000 German companies create more than one million jobs in China. The EU remains the most important global sales market for China.” She stressed that Europe neither wants a trade war nor decoupling. “This is precisely why we cannot allow ourselves to make mistakes in globalization twice and accept overcapacities or one-sided market distortions to our detriment.”
Baerbock pointed to Turkey, India, Canada and Brazil, all of which have imposed tariffs on Chinese EVs. “If highly subsidized electric cars flood the European market, we must react.” The minister also advocated reviving the Sino-German Dialogue Forum and the human rights dialogue and met representatives of civil society in Beijing on the subject of human rights.
Wang Yi issued a press release via the Chinese Foreign Ministry in which he stated: “There are differences and disagreements,” but these should “not be reasons for confrontation.” As the world’s second and third-largest economies, the two countries should overcome disruptions, “abandon the out-dated mentality of Cold War confrontation” and “adhere to mutual respect and understanding, and carry out mutually beneficial cooperation on this basis.” These two statements could hardly be more different.
More than one million households across large swathes of northern China will be able to stay warm with an emerging source of clean energy this year: geothermal. Less known than wind or solar energy, the technology harnesses the natural heat underground to warm up buildings. It is being rolled out on a large scale in China as it aims to diversify its non-fossil sources.
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., more commonly known as Sinopec, is the main company pushing geothermal energy in China. On November 15, the state-owned energy giant turned on more than 1,000 heat-exchange stations in 11 provincial-level regions, marking the beginning of this year’s winter heating season, reported its affiliated newspaper Sinopec News.
According to Sinopec News, these stations send hot water – heated by the natural stable temperature underground – through networks of pipes to more than 1.1 million households in regions that include Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong and Shanxi. “Geothermal energy plays an important role in China’s pursuit of carbon neutrality,” Jin Boyang, Vice Chair of the Carbon Market Working Group of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, told Table.Briefings.
However, China still faces challenges in bringing clean energy sources to the next level. The main hurdles include the lack of development and research effort, as well as high costs, Jin said.
China is the world’s biggest direct user of thermal energy, which can heat as well as cool buildings. In summer, geothermal can cool people’s homes because the temperatures under the earth’s surface are lower than those on the surface. A geothermal heat pump is used to absorb heat from indoor spaces and transfers it to a fluid that travels underground in pipes – a process that allows the heat to dissipate. Then, the fluid returns to people’s homes at lower temperatures.
As of 2020, the combined capacity of geothermal heating and cooling projects in China accounted for nearly 40 percent of the global total, according to the latest industry report. Guo Xusheng, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said at the 2023 World Geothermal Congress in Beijing that geothermal energy had huge potential in China.
He cited a geological survey of 336 Chinese cities. It showed that these cities would be able to obtain energy amounting to a total of 700 million tons of standard coal equivalent every year by harvesting the geothermal within 200 meters under the earth’s surface. The amount of energy would be able to heat or cool 32 billion square meters of indoor spaces.
The potential in rural areas was yet to be mapped out but it was expected to be “substantial,” Guo said. “The utilization of geothermal energy is entering a new round of rapid expansion in China,” he noted.
Chinese cities have been quick to tap into the clean energy. Zhanhua, an urban district in eastern Shandong province, has launched a 450-million-yuan (50 million euros) geothermal project co-developed by the local government and a local subsidiary of Sinopec.
It will enable all of the district’s 330,000 residents to convert to geothermal heating next winter, according to the local newspaper Dazhong Daily. This year, 80 percent of the people there are already enjoying this service, it noted.
According to Guo, Beijing Daxing International Airport, northwest of Shandong – which went into service in 2019 – has been equipped with the largest heat pump system in China. The system is capable of regulating the temperatures in spaces covering more than 2.5 million square meters in total.
After dominating the wind and solar energy sectors, China is doubling down on deploying geothermal energy as it speeds up the energy transition. The central government is determined to fast-track its development using various policies. The most influential one is the sectoral plan for renewable energy under China’s current five-year planning period from 2021 to 2025.
The plan instructs the country to “actively promote” geothermal energy on a large scale. This includes using resources at 2,000-4,000 meters under the earth’s surface - considered by the industry as the “mid” and “deep” levels – in towns and cities in northern China.
The document published in 2022 confirmed how China should develop geothermal energy “from a national strategic level,” Jin said. But even before that, Beijing had shown its ambition. A set of opinions published by eight central-level agencies in 2021 established what is so far “the clearest and detailed” directives and supporting measures for deploying geothermal energy, Jin noted
According to the instructions, the building areas heated or cooled by geothermal energy in the country should grow by 50 percent by 2025 from 2020 levels, and the country should double its capacity of generating electricity using geothermal within the same timeframe. And by 2035, both parameters should grow 100 percent compared to 2025. The document also encouraged local governments to drive the development of those projects and “create conditions” for them to grow.
Solid government backing has yielded results. By 2030, nearly one-fifth of the building areas that have centralized heating in cities are projected to use geothermal energy via heat pumps, according to a 2023 paper.
China is “at the forefront of the world” in developing and utilizing geothermal energy, said Ma Yongsheng, Sinopec’s chairman, at a top-level political gathering in March this year. But the country faces challenges in harnessing the “deep-level” resources – those situated 3,000 meters or more under the ground – Ma noted.
He called for greater government support, including measures to enhance technological innovation and geological surveying, to help the industry dig deeper. So far, there has been a lack of research in the country to understand a few key issues, such as the geological features of areas that may have geothermal energy and how much of the energy they have, Jin said. This makes it harder for companies to develop and use those resources, he added.
But some efforts have been made. In early November, Sinopec finished digging the country’s deepest well for scientific explorations of geothermal energy, state-run newspaper China Daily reported. The well, situated on the tropical Hainan Island, extends a whopping 5,200 meters into the ground.
Scientists have already discovered resources at several different depths in the earth with the help of the well, including layers of granite dating back 250 million years that were as hot as 188 degrees Celsius, according to China’s state-run broadcaster CCTV. The well “marked a breakthrough” in China’s search for deep-level heat sources in southern parts of the country and will act as a one-stop platform for the production, study, research and utilization of geothermal, Guo told CCTV.
He expected the facility to provide “a great push” for China to further its exploration, development and technological achievements of the clean energy in the years to come. You Xiaoying
Africa’s rich cultural history also includes a multitude of beautiful proverbs. One of them is: “A chirping bird does not build a nest.” Meaning: Actions speak louder than words.
These days, the fifth edition of the German-African Business Summit (GABS) is taking place in Nairobi. German companies, supported by the Sub-Saharan Africa Initiative of German Business (Safri), want to intensify cooperation with our African partners. A top priority at the summit: raw materials.
The timing for this conference could not have been more fitting. After all, we face turbulent times in the global competition for partners, markets and raw materials. The tariff plans of the new US administration pose the threat of new global trade conflicts. These could also curtail the global supply of critical raw materials.
Meanwhile, free trade agreements between the EU and resource-rich countries such as Indonesia and Australia are stalling. And there is a “new race for Africa” (Die Zeit). Despite China somewhat curbing its activities in Africa, it remains the most important trading partner. In the meantime, Russia has also been expanding its influence on the continent.
Cooperation with Africa is therefore crucial for Germany and Europe – both strategically and economically. Now, it is all the more important not just to talk but to act.
I believe we mustn’t see this great continent as a “business case” and not just as a source of raw materials, but as an economic and trading partner on an equal footing. Consequently, we also must consider the raw materials policy as a partnership, with the explicit aim of creating win-win situations.
What is needed now?
It is essential to have a strategic industrial policy for raw materials. Africa has a significant share of global raw material reserves, including 90 percent platinum metals, 55 percent cobalt, and 36 percent manganese. However, China holds shares in 15 out of 17 Congolese cobalt mines, for example. Above all, it refines and processes the raw materials back home and not in Africa, thus extracting the added value. Instead, value creation could be located where raw materials are extracted. That would help African countries and their people. It would also benefit the European economy in its efforts to diversify and de-risk from China. However, this requires ambitious public financial support for raw materials projects overseas. KfW Bank’s raw materials fund of one billion euros was a good first step.
It also means that Europe can become an attractive alternative in Africa if it offers partnership-based solutions. Solutions with local added value that also help develop regional infrastructure, transportation options and processing capacities. Here, too, one thing is crucial: The focus must be on exchange and mutual aid. African countries do not need “saviors” from Europe and the West, especially in light of the colonial past of some European countries. Instead, they need partners who work with them to unleash their enormous potential – and who see technology transfer and investment in education not as development aid, but as a partnership-based investment in the future.
Last point: Cooperation between Europe and Africa needs strategic free trade agreements. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has not only tremendously promoted economic and political stability in African countries, but has also opened up a new era of opportunities, innovation and cooperation.
We in Germany and Europe should not just “chirp” about these opportunities, but take action.
Thomas Schäfer is a member of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Group, CEO of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand and Chairman of the Sub-Saharan Africa Initiative of German Business (Safri). Previously, Schäfer served as Chairman and CEO of Volkswagen Group South Africa and was responsible for the development of Volkswagen in the Sub-Saharan Africa region.
A “bread car” (composed of 面包 miànbāo “bread” and 车 chē “cart, car”) is not a bakery truck or a creative alternative to pretzels and raisin buns, but the Chinese word for “minivan.” And we think that hits the nail on the head – after all, the VW bus and the like do look a bit like loaf on wheels.
Want more? Go to www.new-chinese.org
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has returned from her brief stay in China. She spoke with her counterpart Wang Yi for three and a half hours in Beijing. The latter will work hard to foster practical cooperation – but Baerbock remained firm in her positions. Two topics in particular concerned the Green Party politician, writes Angela Köckritz, who also traveled to the Chinese capital: “Drones from Chinese factories and North Korean troops attacking peace in the center of Europe violate our core European security interests,” Baerbock said.
There was no joint press conference. Wang Yi issued a press release via the Chinese Foreign Ministry in which he stated: “There are differences and disagreements,” but these “should not be a reason for confrontation.”
Meanwhile, temperatures in northern China are also freezing. Over one million households in many parts of northern China will stay warm this year thanks to an emerging clean energy source: geothermal energy. It is currently being expanded on a large scale in China as part of diversifying non-fossil energy sources. You Xiaoying explains the potential and challenges of the technology.
To keep up in the race for critical raw materials, Europe finally needs to make Africa better offers, demands Safri Chairman Thomas Schäfer on the occasion of the German-African Business Summit. This also includes a stronger focus on local value creation, he says.
Have an exciting read!
Security issues were the main focus of the three-and-a-half-hour meeting between German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing on Monday. It was their third meeting this year. “Direct and honest channels are more important than ever. We need to talk most intensively with those with whom we disagree,” said Baerbock in the following press conference, where she stepped alone in front of German and international media. Wang Yi, on the other hand, did not face the press.
Ten years ago, Wang was still open to questions from journalists, but nowadays, the Chinese government avoids contact with foreign media whenever possible. This is probably all the more true when the German Foreign Minister is present, who had a heated exchange with Wang’s predecessor Qin Gang in front of the assembled press one and a half years ago. Baerbock’s statement before her departure already foreshadowed that this press conference would not be characterized by the greatest harmony either: “Instead of shouldering responsibility for peace and security in the world as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China is going against our core European interests by providing economic and military aid to Russia.”
Two issues in particular concerned Baerbock. “Drones from Chinese factories and North Korean troops attacking peace in the center of Europe violate our core European security interests,” Baerbock said.
According to European intelligence information, Chinese and Russian companies have jointly developed and tested a lethal long-range drone called Garpiya 3 in China, which is to be used in the Russian campaign against Ukraine. There are also reportedly plans for a Russian-Chinese drone research and development center in the Kashgar Special Economic Zone in Xinjiang. The Chinese Foreign Minister referred to internal investigations by the companies in question. “Supporting a brutal war of aggression would be a breach of international law,” Baerbock explained at the press conference. And made a somewhat veiled reference to “consultations that are now underway in the European Union.”
Specifically, this means that Germany and other EU member states plan to initiate sanctions against the Chinese companies involved. The European Union had already placed 19 Chinese companies on its existing sanctions list in June as part of a package of measures against Russia. These include two important players in the Chinese satellite industry.
In mid-October, the US sanctioned two Chinese companies in connection with the production of Garpiya. The US had previously sanctioned Chinese companies for exporting dual-use goods to Russia. However, these are the first US sanctions against Chinese companies for “developing and producing complete weapons systems in partnership with Russian firms,” according to the relevant document from the US Department of the Treasury.
According to Baerbock, North Korea was also the subject of intensive discussions. “I have noticed concerns on the Chinese side about what North Korean activities could mean for the Korean peninsula.” North Korean soldiers support Putin’s campaign. The international community has expressed concern that Putin could return the favor with military technology that could advance North Korea’s nuclear program.
“The security of Europe and Asia are indivisibly linked. The Russian President is not only destroying our peace order through his war in Ukraine, but is now also dragging Asia into it via North Korea,” said Baerbock. Furthermore, Europe’s security and stability is linked to security and stability in the Indo-Pacific, explained Baerbock. “This concerns massive, unannounced military exercises off Taiwan, as well as the aggressive, provocative behavior in the South China Sea.”
The minister also stressed the importance of Germany’s core interests in economic relations. “China is our second largest trading partner. 5,000 German companies create more than one million jobs in China. The EU remains the most important global sales market for China.” She stressed that Europe neither wants a trade war nor decoupling. “This is precisely why we cannot allow ourselves to make mistakes in globalization twice and accept overcapacities or one-sided market distortions to our detriment.”
Baerbock pointed to Turkey, India, Canada and Brazil, all of which have imposed tariffs on Chinese EVs. “If highly subsidized electric cars flood the European market, we must react.” The minister also advocated reviving the Sino-German Dialogue Forum and the human rights dialogue and met representatives of civil society in Beijing on the subject of human rights.
Wang Yi issued a press release via the Chinese Foreign Ministry in which he stated: “There are differences and disagreements,” but these should “not be reasons for confrontation.” As the world’s second and third-largest economies, the two countries should overcome disruptions, “abandon the out-dated mentality of Cold War confrontation” and “adhere to mutual respect and understanding, and carry out mutually beneficial cooperation on this basis.” These two statements could hardly be more different.
More than one million households across large swathes of northern China will be able to stay warm with an emerging source of clean energy this year: geothermal. Less known than wind or solar energy, the technology harnesses the natural heat underground to warm up buildings. It is being rolled out on a large scale in China as it aims to diversify its non-fossil sources.
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., more commonly known as Sinopec, is the main company pushing geothermal energy in China. On November 15, the state-owned energy giant turned on more than 1,000 heat-exchange stations in 11 provincial-level regions, marking the beginning of this year’s winter heating season, reported its affiliated newspaper Sinopec News.
According to Sinopec News, these stations send hot water – heated by the natural stable temperature underground – through networks of pipes to more than 1.1 million households in regions that include Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong and Shanxi. “Geothermal energy plays an important role in China’s pursuit of carbon neutrality,” Jin Boyang, Vice Chair of the Carbon Market Working Group of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, told Table.Briefings.
However, China still faces challenges in bringing clean energy sources to the next level. The main hurdles include the lack of development and research effort, as well as high costs, Jin said.
China is the world’s biggest direct user of thermal energy, which can heat as well as cool buildings. In summer, geothermal can cool people’s homes because the temperatures under the earth’s surface are lower than those on the surface. A geothermal heat pump is used to absorb heat from indoor spaces and transfers it to a fluid that travels underground in pipes – a process that allows the heat to dissipate. Then, the fluid returns to people’s homes at lower temperatures.
As of 2020, the combined capacity of geothermal heating and cooling projects in China accounted for nearly 40 percent of the global total, according to the latest industry report. Guo Xusheng, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said at the 2023 World Geothermal Congress in Beijing that geothermal energy had huge potential in China.
He cited a geological survey of 336 Chinese cities. It showed that these cities would be able to obtain energy amounting to a total of 700 million tons of standard coal equivalent every year by harvesting the geothermal within 200 meters under the earth’s surface. The amount of energy would be able to heat or cool 32 billion square meters of indoor spaces.
The potential in rural areas was yet to be mapped out but it was expected to be “substantial,” Guo said. “The utilization of geothermal energy is entering a new round of rapid expansion in China,” he noted.
Chinese cities have been quick to tap into the clean energy. Zhanhua, an urban district in eastern Shandong province, has launched a 450-million-yuan (50 million euros) geothermal project co-developed by the local government and a local subsidiary of Sinopec.
It will enable all of the district’s 330,000 residents to convert to geothermal heating next winter, according to the local newspaper Dazhong Daily. This year, 80 percent of the people there are already enjoying this service, it noted.
According to Guo, Beijing Daxing International Airport, northwest of Shandong – which went into service in 2019 – has been equipped with the largest heat pump system in China. The system is capable of regulating the temperatures in spaces covering more than 2.5 million square meters in total.
After dominating the wind and solar energy sectors, China is doubling down on deploying geothermal energy as it speeds up the energy transition. The central government is determined to fast-track its development using various policies. The most influential one is the sectoral plan for renewable energy under China’s current five-year planning period from 2021 to 2025.
The plan instructs the country to “actively promote” geothermal energy on a large scale. This includes using resources at 2,000-4,000 meters under the earth’s surface - considered by the industry as the “mid” and “deep” levels – in towns and cities in northern China.
The document published in 2022 confirmed how China should develop geothermal energy “from a national strategic level,” Jin said. But even before that, Beijing had shown its ambition. A set of opinions published by eight central-level agencies in 2021 established what is so far “the clearest and detailed” directives and supporting measures for deploying geothermal energy, Jin noted
According to the instructions, the building areas heated or cooled by geothermal energy in the country should grow by 50 percent by 2025 from 2020 levels, and the country should double its capacity of generating electricity using geothermal within the same timeframe. And by 2035, both parameters should grow 100 percent compared to 2025. The document also encouraged local governments to drive the development of those projects and “create conditions” for them to grow.
Solid government backing has yielded results. By 2030, nearly one-fifth of the building areas that have centralized heating in cities are projected to use geothermal energy via heat pumps, according to a 2023 paper.
China is “at the forefront of the world” in developing and utilizing geothermal energy, said Ma Yongsheng, Sinopec’s chairman, at a top-level political gathering in March this year. But the country faces challenges in harnessing the “deep-level” resources – those situated 3,000 meters or more under the ground – Ma noted.
He called for greater government support, including measures to enhance technological innovation and geological surveying, to help the industry dig deeper. So far, there has been a lack of research in the country to understand a few key issues, such as the geological features of areas that may have geothermal energy and how much of the energy they have, Jin said. This makes it harder for companies to develop and use those resources, he added.
But some efforts have been made. In early November, Sinopec finished digging the country’s deepest well for scientific explorations of geothermal energy, state-run newspaper China Daily reported. The well, situated on the tropical Hainan Island, extends a whopping 5,200 meters into the ground.
Scientists have already discovered resources at several different depths in the earth with the help of the well, including layers of granite dating back 250 million years that were as hot as 188 degrees Celsius, according to China’s state-run broadcaster CCTV. The well “marked a breakthrough” in China’s search for deep-level heat sources in southern parts of the country and will act as a one-stop platform for the production, study, research and utilization of geothermal, Guo told CCTV.
He expected the facility to provide “a great push” for China to further its exploration, development and technological achievements of the clean energy in the years to come. You Xiaoying
Africa’s rich cultural history also includes a multitude of beautiful proverbs. One of them is: “A chirping bird does not build a nest.” Meaning: Actions speak louder than words.
These days, the fifth edition of the German-African Business Summit (GABS) is taking place in Nairobi. German companies, supported by the Sub-Saharan Africa Initiative of German Business (Safri), want to intensify cooperation with our African partners. A top priority at the summit: raw materials.
The timing for this conference could not have been more fitting. After all, we face turbulent times in the global competition for partners, markets and raw materials. The tariff plans of the new US administration pose the threat of new global trade conflicts. These could also curtail the global supply of critical raw materials.
Meanwhile, free trade agreements between the EU and resource-rich countries such as Indonesia and Australia are stalling. And there is a “new race for Africa” (Die Zeit). Despite China somewhat curbing its activities in Africa, it remains the most important trading partner. In the meantime, Russia has also been expanding its influence on the continent.
Cooperation with Africa is therefore crucial for Germany and Europe – both strategically and economically. Now, it is all the more important not just to talk but to act.
I believe we mustn’t see this great continent as a “business case” and not just as a source of raw materials, but as an economic and trading partner on an equal footing. Consequently, we also must consider the raw materials policy as a partnership, with the explicit aim of creating win-win situations.
What is needed now?
It is essential to have a strategic industrial policy for raw materials. Africa has a significant share of global raw material reserves, including 90 percent platinum metals, 55 percent cobalt, and 36 percent manganese. However, China holds shares in 15 out of 17 Congolese cobalt mines, for example. Above all, it refines and processes the raw materials back home and not in Africa, thus extracting the added value. Instead, value creation could be located where raw materials are extracted. That would help African countries and their people. It would also benefit the European economy in its efforts to diversify and de-risk from China. However, this requires ambitious public financial support for raw materials projects overseas. KfW Bank’s raw materials fund of one billion euros was a good first step.
It also means that Europe can become an attractive alternative in Africa if it offers partnership-based solutions. Solutions with local added value that also help develop regional infrastructure, transportation options and processing capacities. Here, too, one thing is crucial: The focus must be on exchange and mutual aid. African countries do not need “saviors” from Europe and the West, especially in light of the colonial past of some European countries. Instead, they need partners who work with them to unleash their enormous potential – and who see technology transfer and investment in education not as development aid, but as a partnership-based investment in the future.
Last point: Cooperation between Europe and Africa needs strategic free trade agreements. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has not only tremendously promoted economic and political stability in African countries, but has also opened up a new era of opportunities, innovation and cooperation.
We in Germany and Europe should not just “chirp” about these opportunities, but take action.
Thomas Schäfer is a member of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Group, CEO of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand and Chairman of the Sub-Saharan Africa Initiative of German Business (Safri). Previously, Schäfer served as Chairman and CEO of Volkswagen Group South Africa and was responsible for the development of Volkswagen in the Sub-Saharan Africa region.
A “bread car” (composed of 面包 miànbāo “bread” and 车 chē “cart, car”) is not a bakery truck or a creative alternative to pretzels and raisin buns, but the Chinese word for “minivan.” And we think that hits the nail on the head – after all, the VW bus and the like do look a bit like loaf on wheels.
Want more? Go to www.new-chinese.org
