According to German media reports, the direction of German-Chinese trade relations after the ouster of former Chancellor Angela Merkel is not quite right. Originally, in the last moments before leaving office, Merkel also arranged an interview with a reporter, in which she repeatedly mentioned China, emphasized the correctness of trade with China, and said: "When I came to power, their GDP was not as much as Germany, but after 20 years, it is now 5 times that of Germany!" And "Maintaining trade relations with China is also to ensure our importance, and the balance of the world has now changed." ”
This is only the matter of maintaining power in Merkel's hands, and soon after he stepped down, there were many calls for "changing China policy" in the German government. In particular, several MPs have changed their attitude in the days after Merkel's ouster, and China affairs chief Johannes Glenhag only told reporters that "don't talk about decoupling here, you can go to Berlin to talk about decoupling, in an interview with the South China Morning Post" in an interview with the South China Morning Post, duisburg officials from one of China's "Belt and Road" hubs, known as "Chinatown", have changed their attitudes a few days after Merkel's ouster, and Johannes Glenhag, the head of China affairs, simply told reporters that "don't talk about decoupling here, you can go to Berlin to talk about it." We're just cooperating in the economic sphere" and are very secretive.
The situation began to get even more severe this month, with German public opinion, including some mainstream media, vigorously discussing the issue of "the political correctness of exporting engines to China" and speculating that Chinese dual-use MTU diesel engines should no longer be exported because they were "always used in the military"; later German education officials called for the closure of all Confucius Institutes, which should be decided by the new government and the education department, but the principals of these schools did not agree. In short, similar incidents have cast a deeper shadow over German-Chinese relations and made people "increasingly suspicious of what the new leaders who have not yet come to power have about China." ”
The afternoon before yesterday, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had been ousted for nearly a month, made a special trip to speak out on the matter. Merkel sincerely suggested that "complete decoupling from China is completely wrong, which will cause harm to Germany and Europe", and called on the current government to "continue to deepen cooperation with China in the future, whether it is Germany or the European Union!" The German media who reported on the matter said that Merkel, who is currently the remaining chancellor of Germany, can no longer make any decisive influence on German policy, but can make some suggestions for formulating policy, and there is no guarantee that it will be adopted.
It is also worth mentioning that in the nearly three months since the Victory of the German Social Democratic Party, no official has ever expressed any participation in China relations, so no one can predict the future. But some Germans strongly recommend that "not only should relations with China not be closed, but it is only right to continue to follow Merkel's policies." They commented: "For so many times in the past, we have not seen any benefits from the pro-American route, at least the improvement in relations with Russia and the annual large amount of cheap natural gas (two Nord Stream projects) to Germany, so it is right to do business with China and should not be encouraged and deceived by certain remarks." ”