Steinmeier Visits China as Germany Balances Dialogue and De-Risking
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier began a state visit to China on 26 October, eight years after his last trip to the country, at a politically and economically delicate moment, with Germany betting on dialogue, Deutsche Welle reports.
The president plans to spend several days on the ground and finish by meeting China's leadership in Beijing. The visit, from 26 to 31 October, coincides with this week's annual plenum of the Communist Party's Central Committee — a rare time for foreign state guests to visit. According to the Presidential Office, the focus is on "Germany's many-sided and complex relations with China and their challenges". Besides sites of cultural exchange, the programme includes a Volkswagen plant in Hefei.
The car-industry dilemma
The car industry shows the dilemma of German China policy: China is among the most important markets for German carmakers, machine builders and the chemical industry, while state-backed overcapacity in China puts European manufacturers under pressure. Dependence on raw materials and technology adds to it, which is why Germany and Europe are looking for alternative partnerships.
Steinmeier, once an advocate of the now-failed policy of "change through trade", must now present the tougher European line in Beijing. Europe recently agreed to scale back imports of plug-in hybrids from China. "That was a concrete step, but it can only be the beginning," says Michael Laha, a China expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP).
A double trip
At the same time, Chancellor Friedrich Merz is travelling to the Indo-Pacific with business representatives, visiting Japan, Singapore and South Korea to discuss competitiveness, technological upheaval, defence cooperation and critical raw materials. Laha calls the double trip "a very well coordinated message to the Chinese that the partnership is being maintained, but at the same time de-risking is being pursued", a difficult balancing act that also lets China save face.
Steinmeier is accompanied by representatives of culture, politics and science, among them Mikko Huotari, director of the MERICS institute, even though Beijing has sanctioned the institute. "That he is coming along is a clear message to the Chinese side that the sanctions are not acceptable," Laha says. He does not expect human rights to take up much room on the trip.
Ukraine and Taiwan
Steinmeier is regarded as a pragmatist on China. On Ukraine he is expected to be more explicit and address China's role. "Beijing is clearly on Moscow's side," says Laha, though Berlin believes China can do more to push Russia towards serious negotiations. This could come through in Steinmeier's speech at Peking University on Thursday. If he stresses that Russia used its power to attack a sovereign state, Laha says, it could be an allusion to another regional link: Taiwan.
At the end Steinmeier is to meet President Xi Jinping, whom he has known for almost two decades, as well as Premier Li Qiang and National People's Congress chairman Zhao Leji. More in our Politics section.