Germany's high dependence on China was revealed in Schultz's trip to Beijing

According to the report of the international group of the Tasnim news agency, the German newspaper Tagus Zeitung discussed the recent visit of German Chancellor Olaf Schultz to China and wrote: The visit of the German chancellor to China showed that Germany is more dependent on this People's Republic than China. Beijing knows how to exploit this.

Germany's policy towards China suffers from the triad of being aptly described as a partner, competitor and systemic rival. The conflict between these three features makes coherent policies difficult, which is also complicated by conflicting interests in the EU and the German economy.

Before the German chancellor's visit to China, his public relations team had few expectations and only announced that their goal was to maintain relations with China. This is as true as it is trite. But now a lot of talk has been published. At Schultz's last meeting in November 2022, he and Xi openly agreed that not only was Russia's use of nuclear weapons completely unacceptable, but even the threat of doing so was unacceptable.

Now Xi has of course vaguely supported a peace conference in Switzerland – which Russia has rejected – but he has also confidently rejected Western accusations that China is helping Russia with dual-use goods – products that can be used both as Civil and military use. On the other hand, Shultz's statement that Russia's war threatens Europe was unimportant to Xi. China has no interest in defeating Russia and can live with it as long as the conflicts do not escalate.

The same was true of issues related to climate change and hidden subsidies for Chinese exports. Xi rejected discrimination against foreign exporters and his own actions that distort competition. Instead, he smartly pointed out that China's solar panels and electric cars would help Europe meet its climate goals. He can even claim that the German chancellor didn't even talk about EU countermeasures as a successful plan. Schultz's trip showed once again that Germany is more dependent on China than vice versa, and Beijing knows how to exploit this in the long run. Now there was nothing left for Schultz.

The Frankfurter Rondschei also wrote in an article: Olaf Schultz and Xi Jinping discussed the Ukraine crisis in China and it became clear that there are many differences and no specific solution is foreseen.

Olaf Schultz ended his three-day trip to China on Tuesday (April 16) by meeting with Chinese government officials. Before the private meeting with Xi Jinping in Beijing, he said that there are many points to discuss together, especially about the situation in Ukraine.

It continues: However, Xi Jinping mostly repeated well-known phrases. He told the chancellor: “Together we can create more stability and security in the world” and claimed that China “is not involved in the Ukraine crisis”. But Western observers see it differently and believe that without China's support, Vladimir Putin would probably not be able to lead his war.

The article continues: The United States recently accused China of supplying Russia with machinery, microelectronics and other goods used to build missiles, tanks and aircraft. US government officials said Chinese companies are likely to supply materials for munitions and co-produce drones with Russian companies. Ironically, in the conversation with Shultz, Xi has now called on the West to “not add fuel to the fire”, that is, to stop supplying Ukraine with arms.

Since Xi Jinping took office as Chinese president 12 years ago, German chancellors have visited China eight times, while Xi has visited Germany only twice, the last time nearly seven years ago.

Schultz's first visit to China in November 2022 lasted only a few hours due to China's strict measures against the corona virus. This time, the German Prime Minister stayed in this country for three days and visited Beijing, Chongqing and Shanghai. Xi spent more than three hours with Schulz in Beijing, but offered little. After these talks, it is still unclear whether China will participate in the Ukraine peace conference scheduled to be held in Switzerland in June.

Xi also defended China's subsidies to electric and solar car manufacturers instead of addressing the concerns Schulz raised the day before in Shanghai. “China's exports of electric vehicles, lithium batteries and photovoltaic products have not only enriched the global supply, but also made a major contribution to the response to climate change in light of the EU's possible punitive tariffs,” Xi said.

On the other hand, it is not clear whether Schultz discussed the human rights situation in China during this three-day trip. At the end of this trip, the so-called initiative to Tibet criticized Germany and said: Human rights are just a side issue for Olaf Schultz. It is a shame that the chancellor did not meet with human rights activists in China and did not explicitly mention China's threats against Taiwan, the organization said.

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