Through ball into the area
A Chinese extension to Europe, or so it would seem. Today the FrChinese remier Li Qiang met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and in the next few days he will travel to France. This is Li Qiang’s first trip abroad after his appointment in March: a a sign of the importance, for Beijing, of picking up the threads of relations with Europewhich have appeared increasingly uncertain in recent years.
It was five years since a Chinese premier visited Germany, but last November Scholz had been the first G7 leader to visit China after reopening. Today as then, the central theme is the economy: Li Qiang in fact hopes to convince the German industrial world to deepen its presence in Chinawhere, however, the years of the pandemic have made the business world increasingly complex.
The importance of the bolt
Berlin is a key counterpart to Beijing in Europe, with strade exchanges for 299 billion euros in 2022. Germany has China as its main trading partner without however suffering from the heavy deficit which instead weighs down relations with other Western countries.
German industry, first European for investments in the People’s Republic, has traditionally maintained one important presence also in technologically relevant sectors. But the tide is changing, with the discourse of economic “de-risking” spreading across Europe, including Germany. In recent days the first has arrived German strategic document on national security, which warns that China exploits its weight economy to “achieve political objectives” and it is suggested to reduce dependency in critical sectors.
Cut the defensive line
A scenario that worries Beijing: not surprisingly, during its visit Li Qiang invited to evaluate the concept of “risk” and not to mistake interdependence for insecurity. A message that part of German industry seems inclined to grasp, certain that a decoupling of the economies of the two countries is “unthinkable”.
Against the backdrop of China’s attempt to reinvigorate cooperation with Germany (and by metonymy also Europe), however, there is an increasingly intricate scenario. Antony Blinken’s contemporary trip to Beijing in a certain way seals the competitive status of relations between China and the United States. E Europe is also trying to equip itself with mechanisms to curb the sharing of technologies advance to China. Will Li Qiang be able to insinuate himself into the growing strategic alignment of the United States and Europe?