"A horse does not make the most of its strength alone, but by pulling the cart together with others. Only when we in Germany and Europe are united, strong and competitive can we build a balanced partnership with China. We want our partnership with China to be balanced, reliable, regulated and fair."
"A smart China policy begins at home. German businesses have long complained about market access, untransparent regulations and state-subsidized domestic competition in China, leading Merz to insist: We must be able to rely upon agreed rules."
"Despite the ideological differences between Germany and China, Merz insists that decoupling from China is not an option, saying it would be like shooting ourselves in the foot economically."
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz traveled to Beijing with a message emphasizing collective action, using a Chinese proverb about horses working together. He outlined five guiding principles for Germany's China policy: European strength and unity as foundation for balanced partnerships, coordinated European approach alongside French and British leaders, fair competition addressing German industry concerns about market access and state subsidies, risk reduction rather than complete economic decoupling despite ideological differences, and international cooperation amid shifting global power dynamics. Merz stressed that decoupling would harm Germany economically while insisting on transparent rules and reliable partnerships.
#germany-china-relations #european-foreign-policy #international-trade-and-competition #economic-partnership #geopolitical-strategy
Read at www.dw.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]