When it comes to China, the current debate in Germany currently revolves around the country’s overdependence on the People’s Republic. No wonder this results in a relatively negative perception of China. But dependencies can also have positive effects: They bind partners to one another – as long as they are mutual.
Our author Frank Sieren follows this path in his analysis today and shows that China is also dependent on Germany in many areas. In particular, SAP, Siemens and Infineon offer solutions that Chinese companies need. But that is no reason to sit back and relax: China has been developing alternatives for a while now – at breakneck speed.
Speaking of Chinese alternatives. With great interest, China’s space engineers have been watching the test of the heavy-lift rocket space vehicle by the US company SpaceX. Despite its explosion, Beijing has decided to adopt the Starship concept from the US. Joern Petring shows what consequences this has for China’s space ambitions on the Moon and Mars.
The increasing dependence of Germany’s industry on Chinese technology is evident. Even though there is an ongoing debate about how deep the dependency actually is, one thing is clear: Germany and the West tend to become more dependent.
What we are overlooking, however, is this: China is also dependent on German high-tech and software, even in key IT areas. One example is the ERP systems of the German software company SAP. ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is a software system that supports automation in companies, helping them become more efficient. For example, the ERP system can increase efficiency in finance, human resources, manufacturing, supply chains, services and procurement.
Such software is crucial for a company. The ERP from SAP automates and connects business processes within a company. This means that all essential information passes through this software application. As a result, SAP plays a central role in processes.
About 35 percent of Chinese companies currently use SAP’s ERP software, particularly in the manufacturing sector (41 percent). The communications industry ranks second. In fact, SAP is the market leader among large enterprises in China, with a market share of 33 percent. It is followed by the US company Oracle with a market share of 20 percent. IBM still holds eight percent.
This means over 60 percent of organizational software in all large Chinese companies is from European and American providers. Among small and medium-sized enterprises, which do not spend as much money on software solutions, however, the Beijing-based company Yonyou is already leading the market with a share of 30 percent. But even in this sector, SAP continues to play an important role with a market share of 15 percent. Oracle has six percent. Its US competitor Infor holds 5 percent. China’s ERP market, however, grew by 13 percent to 5.6 billion US dollars in 2021.
The situation is similar for the CAD software developed by the engineering group Siemens. Siemens is the second-largest supplier in China with its design software. The company’s industrial control systems are also deeply interwoven with China’s critical infrastructure.
And a similar situation can be seen with semiconductors. The German company Infineon is the leading chip manufacturer in the car industry. China accounts for 29 percent of the company’s revenues, more than Japan, the US and Germany combined. However, it is not disclosed how high the share of Chinese companies is compared to foreign companies on the ground.
What is clear, however, is that a large part of the Chinese car industry trusts German chips. This means that the Chinese are also dependent on German software and chips for now. Surely the dependence will decrease over time. But it will not disappear overnight, especially if the German software industry manages to stay in the lead, which is not due to the Chinese but to Germany’s innovation strength.
The word “dependency” may sound negative, but it also has a positive side when economies are this closely interlocked. “Mutual market shares or, even better, cooperation in sensitive software areas are the best insurance against abuse,” says Hans Uszkoreit, Scientific Director at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, “much better than elaborate controls or even a ban.”
On the other hand, the current trend towards decoupling from the respective know-how is putting “Germany and Europe on the defensive,” says the experienced AI researcher, who has also worked for the Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo. The technology is currently developing faster in China than in Europe. But it can pull Western competitors with it if they are represented locally. Uszkoreit is an advocate for Sino-German cooperation.
Western sanctions, on the other hand, are increasing the pressure to become self-sufficient: In April, communications group Huawei announced that it developed its own ERP software since Oracle’s system could no longer be used due to US sanctions. “We were cut off from the old ERP system and other core operation and management systems three years ago,” said board member Tao Jingwen.
Huawei has thus decoupled itself from Western software. “Today we are proud to announce that we have broken through that blockade, we have survived.” It was “the most extensive and complex transformation project Huawei has ever undertaken.” Huawei does not rule out selling the system to other companies.
When Elon Musk’s Starship recently blasted off on its first test flight, engineers at the Beijing Academy of Launch Technology (CALT) were watching very closely. After the launch, which ended with an explosion of the giant rocket, they published a detailed analysis of the flight and the reasons for its failure on Weibo.
The Chinese interest in Elon Musk’s SpaceX’s largest rocket to date is no coincidence. CALT has been commissioned to develop a similarly advanced heavy-lift rocket, “Long March 9”. And the People’s Republic is also closely following the US model in other areas.
But the bar could hardly be higher: Starship is the most powerful rocket in the history of space travel. It is supposed to carry cargo of more than 100 tonnes into space – and one day also transport people to Mars. Both stages, i.e. booster and spaceship, are to be reusable, which would massively lower the costs.
Despite the fact that Musk’s Starship is behind schedule and has not yet been successfully launched, China seems to be a believer in the Starship concept. Late last year, CALT announced that the development of China’s largest heavy-lift rocket “Long March 9” would no longer focus on a conventional, but a reusable rocket.
More details were revealed at Space Day on 24 April in the city of Hefei. There, the engineers presented their latest model, which looks a lot like Starship. The usually well-informed US space journalist Andrew Jones reported that China is aiming for the first launch of the “Long March 9” in 2033. However, there will be several versions of the rocket. Initially, it will only be partially reusable. Only around 2040 are all stages of the rocket capable of taking off and landing several times.
According to Jones, China is even willing to delay planned missions in order to change course. Both the construction of a Sino-Russian space station and a manned Chinese flight to Mars could be postponed by several years. Both missions depend on the new heavy-lift rocket.
However, if China succeeds in developing the reusable rocket, future transport flights into space could become significantly cheaper. This also applies to the construction of a solar power plant in Earth orbit. Chinese state media have already reported several times on corresponding plans.
The new mega-rocket will not be used for the planned Chinese manned moon mission. The “Long March 10” has been under development for some time. This likewise reusable rocket is less powerful than the “Long March 9”. But it will be powerful enough to take astronauts to the moon. According to Jones, it could complete its first flight in 2027. Beijing wants to successfully land on the moon before the end of the decade.
China is not only imitating US technology with the Long March 9. It was only at the beginning of May that a new Chinese multi-purpose spacecraft returned to Earth after more than 276 days in space. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) called it an “important breakthrough”. The glider “will provide a more convenient and cost-effective way for peaceful use of space”, the company said.
It was the second test of the mysterious spacecraft. In 2020, there was already a four-day flight on which little is known. There are also no pictures of the new space glider so far. But experts suspect that it could be similar in size and design to the American Boeing X-37B.
Two cities want to start a partnership: Kiel and Qingdao. First of all, this is an entirely normal process. There are thousands of partnerships between German cities and foreign municipalities. There are also more than one hundred partnerships between German and Chinese cities. North Rhine-Westphalia alone has 15, Bavaria 12, Lower Saxony 8. The oldest German-Chinese partnership between Bremen and Dalian has existed since 1985.
Until the 2010s, Europeans were confident that China’s reform and opening-up policy would continue – despite Tiananmen, repression of human rights advocates and infringements of German companies’ intellectual property rights.
People accepted, nolens volens, that the Chinese society was centrally organized and that the Communist Party was in charge, not the province, and certainly not the municipality, even if there was room for initiative there. One thing was clear: It is not the mayor who decides in China, but the Party secretary.
The countless civil society exchanges between Germany and China, educational institutions, cultural workers, sports associations or municipalities were bets on the future. A peaceful Chinese rise would offer more opportunities than risks – that was the widespread hope.
This hope is dead to most. Trust has turned into suspicion. China has become a superpower. And above all: It acts like a superpower. That makes people afraid.
President Xi Jinping has developed a more ideological and nationalistic policy since taking office. Internal stability is paramount, which has led to even more repression against dissenters. This also makes the scope for civil society cooperation increasingly difficult.
Chinese foreign policy has become more assertive, some would say more aggressive. It serves two main goals: National security and the continued growth of China’s economy.
Economic growth remains the key to the stability of Chinese society. Because one thing has not changed: The Chinese accept their leadership as long as they have more money in their wallets at the end of the year than the year before. But this social contract is crumbling. The leadership is well aware of this and is reacting nervously. Strategies such as the New Silk Road pursue, above all, the goal of creating prosperity in China by securing energy, raw materials and new sales markets.
But of course, it also serves Beijing’s interest in expanding China’s influence. This is not illegitimate, but China plays rough. That creates a fear of dependency. At the same time, national security has become enormously important.
Beijing has greatly strengthened its military in the last decade, especially its air force and navy. Chinese military spending in 2022 was 200 billion euros – well below the US defense budget of 700 billion euros, but it is safe to assume that other items are hidden in the Chinese budget.
The reason for the growing arms build-up is also, but not exclusively, Taiwan. Most Chinese see the island as part of the People’s Republic, it is vital Chinese interest – like Tibet and Hong Kong. But the arms build-up also serves China’s general interest in projecting its growing geopolitical weight in the Pacific.
China has become a geopolitical and geo-economic power, the only real rival to the US. In Washington, China is now seen bipartisanly as the greatest threat to American dominance, especially in the Pacific. Since Putin started his war of aggression against Ukraine and China refused to condemn this aggression but instead took a pro-Russian position, alarm bells have been ringing in the West. Xi Jinping’s recent threat that China would bring about reunification with Taiwan by force if necessary has reflexively triggered parallels between Ukraine and Taiwan. This is shaping the discourse on the right approach to China.
Europe is following the US, albeit more cautiously, with its triad of partner-competitor-systemic rival. Ursula von der Leyen has summarized Europe’s changed China strategy as follows: We do not want “de-coupling,” but “de-risking,” a reduction of risks, especially in sensitive areas. Given the enormous economic interdependencies, there is growing consensus that de-coupling would be absurd, if not impossible.
What does all this mean now for Kiel and its partnership with Qingdao?
Qingdao, formerly Kiautschou, belonged to the German Empire as a German colony from 1898 to 1919. To this day, numerous “German” buildings characterize the now modern city with a population of over a million: The railway station, a Protestant church, and above all, the Tsingtao Brewery, where beer is still produced according to German brewing methods.
Its picturesque harbor was the venue for the Olympic sailing competitions in 2008. As the first German representative in decades, I had the honor of welcoming the athletes in the old governor’s residence. Olympic-experienced Kiel residents were important advisors in planning the regattas at that time.
In 2013, the project of a Sino-German Eco-Park was launched in Qingdao, and six years later, it was certified as a Sino-German Eco-City. One could say that Qingdao is the most “German” of all Chinese cities for many reasons. This undoubtedly qualifies it as a partner city.
But there is also another dimension to the beautiful port city. It is the naval base of the Chinese submarine fleet and the center of Chinese undersea warfare. The Naval Submarine Academy is one of the most important training institutions of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (VBA), and the Ocean University of Qingdao is a top institute of civilian underwater research. It has long cooperated with the Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel, Geomar.
There is an understandable concern that Qingdao is not pursuing the city partnership with Kiel out of the noble goal of international exchange, but in order to gather militarily relevant information. After all, Kiel is also the center of the submarine fleet, submarine construction and undersea research on the German side.
Therefore, It could be concluded that the planned city partnership could be misused as a Trojan horse for Chinese espionage. But is that a compelling reason to reject the city partnership? In my opinion: no.
It is important to approach this decision soberly and be aware of potential risks. The naïve idea that this is merely a civil society exchange would be absurd. In China, everything is subordinated to the one-party state.
The Chinese already have other, probably better means for espionage and intelligence activities. They don’t need city partnerships for that.
In times of increasing silence between our societies, civil society exchange is more important than ever. Especially at the municipal level. German democracy need not fear systemic rivalry. On the contrary. We can present our model with confidence.
It is up to the organizers in Kiel to formulate the “terms of reference” of the city partnership. The partnership’s focus should be, as elsewhere, on sports and student exchanges, cultural events and civic exchanges. Visiting military facilities is certainly not one of them. That would be quite unusual. Qingdao, on the other hand, would never do that.
Kiel should bring China experts on board to make the partnership with Qingdao what it should be: A framework for building trust – with all due caution.
Michael Schaefer is considered one of the most renowned German diplomats. For four years, he represented Germany in Geneva at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. From 2002 to 2007, he served as Political Director at the German Foreign Office. From 2007 to 2013, he represented Germany as ambassador in Beijing.
With colorful flags and heavy loads, Chinese truckers test the durability of the new Jinfeng-Wujiang Bridge. A total of 48 of these 35-ton trucks were on the bridge on Sunday – and arrived safely on the other side.
China.Table issue number 586 said that China is talking about a three-degree global warming target. In fact, China’s 2060 target, extrapolated to global development, is more consistent with a 3-degree target than with the global attempt to limit warming to 2 and 1.5 degrees, respectively. A 3-degree target has not been explicitly mentioned.
When it comes to China, the current debate in Germany currently revolves around the country’s overdependence on the People’s Republic. No wonder this results in a relatively negative perception of China. But dependencies can also have positive effects: They bind partners to one another – as long as they are mutual.
Our author Frank Sieren follows this path in his analysis today and shows that China is also dependent on Germany in many areas. In particular, SAP, Siemens and Infineon offer solutions that Chinese companies need. But that is no reason to sit back and relax: China has been developing alternatives for a while now – at breakneck speed.
Speaking of Chinese alternatives. With great interest, China’s space engineers have been watching the test of the heavy-lift rocket space vehicle by the US company SpaceX. Despite its explosion, Beijing has decided to adopt the Starship concept from the US. Joern Petring shows what consequences this has for China’s space ambitions on the Moon and Mars.
The increasing dependence of Germany’s industry on Chinese technology is evident. Even though there is an ongoing debate about how deep the dependency actually is, one thing is clear: Germany and the West tend to become more dependent.
What we are overlooking, however, is this: China is also dependent on German high-tech and software, even in key IT areas. One example is the ERP systems of the German software company SAP. ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is a software system that supports automation in companies, helping them become more efficient. For example, the ERP system can increase efficiency in finance, human resources, manufacturing, supply chains, services and procurement.
Such software is crucial for a company. The ERP from SAP automates and connects business processes within a company. This means that all essential information passes through this software application. As a result, SAP plays a central role in processes.
About 35 percent of Chinese companies currently use SAP’s ERP software, particularly in the manufacturing sector (41 percent). The communications industry ranks second. In fact, SAP is the market leader among large enterprises in China, with a market share of 33 percent. It is followed by the US company Oracle with a market share of 20 percent. IBM still holds eight percent.
This means over 60 percent of organizational software in all large Chinese companies is from European and American providers. Among small and medium-sized enterprises, which do not spend as much money on software solutions, however, the Beijing-based company Yonyou is already leading the market with a share of 30 percent. But even in this sector, SAP continues to play an important role with a market share of 15 percent. Oracle has six percent. Its US competitor Infor holds 5 percent. China’s ERP market, however, grew by 13 percent to 5.6 billion US dollars in 2021.
The situation is similar for the CAD software developed by the engineering group Siemens. Siemens is the second-largest supplier in China with its design software. The company’s industrial control systems are also deeply interwoven with China’s critical infrastructure.
And a similar situation can be seen with semiconductors. The German company Infineon is the leading chip manufacturer in the car industry. China accounts for 29 percent of the company’s revenues, more than Japan, the US and Germany combined. However, it is not disclosed how high the share of Chinese companies is compared to foreign companies on the ground.
What is clear, however, is that a large part of the Chinese car industry trusts German chips. This means that the Chinese are also dependent on German software and chips for now. Surely the dependence will decrease over time. But it will not disappear overnight, especially if the German software industry manages to stay in the lead, which is not due to the Chinese but to Germany’s innovation strength.
The word “dependency” may sound negative, but it also has a positive side when economies are this closely interlocked. “Mutual market shares or, even better, cooperation in sensitive software areas are the best insurance against abuse,” says Hans Uszkoreit, Scientific Director at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, “much better than elaborate controls or even a ban.”
On the other hand, the current trend towards decoupling from the respective know-how is putting “Germany and Europe on the defensive,” says the experienced AI researcher, who has also worked for the Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo. The technology is currently developing faster in China than in Europe. But it can pull Western competitors with it if they are represented locally. Uszkoreit is an advocate for Sino-German cooperation.
Western sanctions, on the other hand, are increasing the pressure to become self-sufficient: In April, communications group Huawei announced that it developed its own ERP software since Oracle’s system could no longer be used due to US sanctions. “We were cut off from the old ERP system and other core operation and management systems three years ago,” said board member Tao Jingwen.
Huawei has thus decoupled itself from Western software. “Today we are proud to announce that we have broken through that blockade, we have survived.” It was “the most extensive and complex transformation project Huawei has ever undertaken.” Huawei does not rule out selling the system to other companies.
When Elon Musk’s Starship recently blasted off on its first test flight, engineers at the Beijing Academy of Launch Technology (CALT) were watching very closely. After the launch, which ended with an explosion of the giant rocket, they published a detailed analysis of the flight and the reasons for its failure on Weibo.
The Chinese interest in Elon Musk’s SpaceX’s largest rocket to date is no coincidence. CALT has been commissioned to develop a similarly advanced heavy-lift rocket, “Long March 9”. And the People’s Republic is also closely following the US model in other areas.
But the bar could hardly be higher: Starship is the most powerful rocket in the history of space travel. It is supposed to carry cargo of more than 100 tonnes into space – and one day also transport people to Mars. Both stages, i.e. booster and spaceship, are to be reusable, which would massively lower the costs.
Despite the fact that Musk’s Starship is behind schedule and has not yet been successfully launched, China seems to be a believer in the Starship concept. Late last year, CALT announced that the development of China’s largest heavy-lift rocket “Long March 9” would no longer focus on a conventional, but a reusable rocket.
More details were revealed at Space Day on 24 April in the city of Hefei. There, the engineers presented their latest model, which looks a lot like Starship. The usually well-informed US space journalist Andrew Jones reported that China is aiming for the first launch of the “Long March 9” in 2033. However, there will be several versions of the rocket. Initially, it will only be partially reusable. Only around 2040 are all stages of the rocket capable of taking off and landing several times.
According to Jones, China is even willing to delay planned missions in order to change course. Both the construction of a Sino-Russian space station and a manned Chinese flight to Mars could be postponed by several years. Both missions depend on the new heavy-lift rocket.
However, if China succeeds in developing the reusable rocket, future transport flights into space could become significantly cheaper. This also applies to the construction of a solar power plant in Earth orbit. Chinese state media have already reported several times on corresponding plans.
The new mega-rocket will not be used for the planned Chinese manned moon mission. The “Long March 10” has been under development for some time. This likewise reusable rocket is less powerful than the “Long March 9”. But it will be powerful enough to take astronauts to the moon. According to Jones, it could complete its first flight in 2027. Beijing wants to successfully land on the moon before the end of the decade.
China is not only imitating US technology with the Long March 9. It was only at the beginning of May that a new Chinese multi-purpose spacecraft returned to Earth after more than 276 days in space. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) called it an “important breakthrough”. The glider “will provide a more convenient and cost-effective way for peaceful use of space”, the company said.
It was the second test of the mysterious spacecraft. In 2020, there was already a four-day flight on which little is known. There are also no pictures of the new space glider so far. But experts suspect that it could be similar in size and design to the American Boeing X-37B.
Two cities want to start a partnership: Kiel and Qingdao. First of all, this is an entirely normal process. There are thousands of partnerships between German cities and foreign municipalities. There are also more than one hundred partnerships between German and Chinese cities. North Rhine-Westphalia alone has 15, Bavaria 12, Lower Saxony 8. The oldest German-Chinese partnership between Bremen and Dalian has existed since 1985.
Until the 2010s, Europeans were confident that China’s reform and opening-up policy would continue – despite Tiananmen, repression of human rights advocates and infringements of German companies’ intellectual property rights.
People accepted, nolens volens, that the Chinese society was centrally organized and that the Communist Party was in charge, not the province, and certainly not the municipality, even if there was room for initiative there. One thing was clear: It is not the mayor who decides in China, but the Party secretary.
The countless civil society exchanges between Germany and China, educational institutions, cultural workers, sports associations or municipalities were bets on the future. A peaceful Chinese rise would offer more opportunities than risks – that was the widespread hope.
This hope is dead to most. Trust has turned into suspicion. China has become a superpower. And above all: It acts like a superpower. That makes people afraid.
President Xi Jinping has developed a more ideological and nationalistic policy since taking office. Internal stability is paramount, which has led to even more repression against dissenters. This also makes the scope for civil society cooperation increasingly difficult.
Chinese foreign policy has become more assertive, some would say more aggressive. It serves two main goals: National security and the continued growth of China’s economy.
Economic growth remains the key to the stability of Chinese society. Because one thing has not changed: The Chinese accept their leadership as long as they have more money in their wallets at the end of the year than the year before. But this social contract is crumbling. The leadership is well aware of this and is reacting nervously. Strategies such as the New Silk Road pursue, above all, the goal of creating prosperity in China by securing energy, raw materials and new sales markets.
But of course, it also serves Beijing’s interest in expanding China’s influence. This is not illegitimate, but China plays rough. That creates a fear of dependency. At the same time, national security has become enormously important.
Beijing has greatly strengthened its military in the last decade, especially its air force and navy. Chinese military spending in 2022 was 200 billion euros – well below the US defense budget of 700 billion euros, but it is safe to assume that other items are hidden in the Chinese budget.
The reason for the growing arms build-up is also, but not exclusively, Taiwan. Most Chinese see the island as part of the People’s Republic, it is vital Chinese interest – like Tibet and Hong Kong. But the arms build-up also serves China’s general interest in projecting its growing geopolitical weight in the Pacific.
China has become a geopolitical and geo-economic power, the only real rival to the US. In Washington, China is now seen bipartisanly as the greatest threat to American dominance, especially in the Pacific. Since Putin started his war of aggression against Ukraine and China refused to condemn this aggression but instead took a pro-Russian position, alarm bells have been ringing in the West. Xi Jinping’s recent threat that China would bring about reunification with Taiwan by force if necessary has reflexively triggered parallels between Ukraine and Taiwan. This is shaping the discourse on the right approach to China.
Europe is following the US, albeit more cautiously, with its triad of partner-competitor-systemic rival. Ursula von der Leyen has summarized Europe’s changed China strategy as follows: We do not want “de-coupling,” but “de-risking,” a reduction of risks, especially in sensitive areas. Given the enormous economic interdependencies, there is growing consensus that de-coupling would be absurd, if not impossible.
What does all this mean now for Kiel and its partnership with Qingdao?
Qingdao, formerly Kiautschou, belonged to the German Empire as a German colony from 1898 to 1919. To this day, numerous “German” buildings characterize the now modern city with a population of over a million: The railway station, a Protestant church, and above all, the Tsingtao Brewery, where beer is still produced according to German brewing methods.
Its picturesque harbor was the venue for the Olympic sailing competitions in 2008. As the first German representative in decades, I had the honor of welcoming the athletes in the old governor’s residence. Olympic-experienced Kiel residents were important advisors in planning the regattas at that time.
In 2013, the project of a Sino-German Eco-Park was launched in Qingdao, and six years later, it was certified as a Sino-German Eco-City. One could say that Qingdao is the most “German” of all Chinese cities for many reasons. This undoubtedly qualifies it as a partner city.
But there is also another dimension to the beautiful port city. It is the naval base of the Chinese submarine fleet and the center of Chinese undersea warfare. The Naval Submarine Academy is one of the most important training institutions of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (VBA), and the Ocean University of Qingdao is a top institute of civilian underwater research. It has long cooperated with the Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel, Geomar.
There is an understandable concern that Qingdao is not pursuing the city partnership with Kiel out of the noble goal of international exchange, but in order to gather militarily relevant information. After all, Kiel is also the center of the submarine fleet, submarine construction and undersea research on the German side.
Therefore, It could be concluded that the planned city partnership could be misused as a Trojan horse for Chinese espionage. But is that a compelling reason to reject the city partnership? In my opinion: no.
It is important to approach this decision soberly and be aware of potential risks. The naïve idea that this is merely a civil society exchange would be absurd. In China, everything is subordinated to the one-party state.
The Chinese already have other, probably better means for espionage and intelligence activities. They don’t need city partnerships for that.
In times of increasing silence between our societies, civil society exchange is more important than ever. Especially at the municipal level. German democracy need not fear systemic rivalry. On the contrary. We can present our model with confidence.
It is up to the organizers in Kiel to formulate the “terms of reference” of the city partnership. The partnership’s focus should be, as elsewhere, on sports and student exchanges, cultural events and civic exchanges. Visiting military facilities is certainly not one of them. That would be quite unusual. Qingdao, on the other hand, would never do that.
Kiel should bring China experts on board to make the partnership with Qingdao what it should be: A framework for building trust – with all due caution.
Michael Schaefer is considered one of the most renowned German diplomats. For four years, he represented Germany in Geneva at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. From 2002 to 2007, he served as Political Director at the German Foreign Office. From 2007 to 2013, he represented Germany as ambassador in Beijing.
With colorful flags and heavy loads, Chinese truckers test the durability of the new Jinfeng-Wujiang Bridge. A total of 48 of these 35-ton trucks were on the bridge on Sunday – and arrived safely on the other side.
China.Table issue number 586 said that China is talking about a three-degree global warming target. In fact, China’s 2060 target, extrapolated to global development, is more consistent with a 3-degree target than with the global attempt to limit warming to 2 and 1.5 degrees, respectively. A 3-degree target has not been explicitly mentioned.
