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Introduction: In the long history of history, Germany has confidently stood among the great powers of Europe. Even in the haze of World War II, it rose with resilience, recovered its economy and became Europe's leader. Germany, on the EU stage, not only leads the trend politically, but also breaks through international economic barriers in a legal way and pushes European integration to new heights. Now, however, a storm of internal and external distress is brewing that could shake Germany's position and affect the entire European situation. Next, we'll dive deeper into the backstory of this change and reveal the complexities involved.
Germany and China have maintained a solid and pragmatic cooperative relationship for many years. Although this cooperation is not as glorious as Sino-French relations, it is characterized by smoothness and practicality. China focuses most of its attention on economic construction and does not pursue political interests excessively. At the same time, Germany keeps a low profile on the political stage and pursues more economic development. In this context, the cooperation between the two sides is more pure than that of other countries, and there is more understanding and consensus. However, with China's rise as the world's second-largest economy, Sino-German relations are quietly undergoing subtle changes.
In recent years, Germany's economic situation has not been ideal, especially after the European debt crisis, Germany has borne a heavy burden to save the eurozone. However, the sudden coronavirus pandemic has further hit the already crumbling German economy. Against the backdrop of China's boom, right-wing forces in Germany believe that economic relations with China should be reassessed, advocating that China should "cede" more economic benefits to Germany, and that Germany should reduce its support for China. The German media also followed suit, proposing to cancel development assistance to China and no longer regard China as a developing country.
According to the German newspaper Die Welt, China has become the world's second largest economy, with exports even surpassing the United States and Germany, ranking first in the world. Confusingly, however, China turned out to be Germany's third-largest recipient of aid after Syria and India. Although figures for 2021 are not yet available, German development assistance to China amounted to 475 million euros in 2020. This has sparked questions in the German media, which believe that the German government should no longer consider China a developing country.
The German media offered two main reasons in favor of the withdrawal of development assistance to China. First, they argue that international authorities should no longer characterize China as a developing country, because that is no longer in line with reality. The classification of the OECD by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development can no longer hide the fact that China far surpasses the typical developing country in terms of political, economic, military and technological resources. The traditional distribution of roles in German-Chinese relations has lapsed. Second, they argue that development assistance to China is actually grooming competitors. Christoph Hoffmann, chairman of the Development Cooperation Committee of the German Bundestag, believes that China has become a systemic competitor of Germany, and Germany has helped China upgrade industries in many fields in the past cooperation, such as the automotive industry, mechanical engineering, electrical industry and chemical industry. This raises widespread questions about development assistance to China.
However, Volkmar Klein, spokesman for development policy for the German opposition coalition party, countered, pointing out that China is not just a thriving metropolis, but also has many poor rural areas. He believes that there is a scientific basis for classifying countries based on GDP per capita. In addition, German development assistance to China is not direct financial assistance in the traditional sense, but part of it is low-interest development loans, as well as various cooperation projects and the cost of Chinese students' study in Germany. Accordingly, China has a similar programme in Germany to support the vocational training of German personnel in China. Genuine direct financial assistance programs are provided from federal budget funds and are mainly used to reduce poverty. These projects were halted in 2009, so some sober experts believe that the new German government is developing a new China strategy, which may include increased aid to promote German companies to further in the Chinese market
One step at the same time, it supports Germany's image in China.
It is undeniable that China has made remarkable development achievements in recent years, and it has become an indisputable fact that it has become the world's second largest economy. At the same time, however, denying China's status as a developing country is not realistic. Although China's total economic output has surpassed that of many developed countries, there is still a gap with most developed countries in terms of per capita GDP. In addition, there is still a considerable gap between China's manufacturing technology level and developed countries such as the United States and Germany. In this context, denying China's status as a developing country is disrespectful to reality.
However, the hype in the German media is not without reason, and the reasons behind it are closely related to the changes in the internal political situation in Germany.
First of all, German politics has ushered in a coalition between the Greens, the Social Democrats and the FDP. The Greens were once a marginal party, known for their extreme environmental advocacy and long been ostracized by German society. However, in recent years, the trend of extreme and fragmentation of social thought in Europe and the United States has led to the rapid rise of the Green Party. Although they failed to win the prime minister in the latest general election, they still received 14.8% of the vote and had an important say in the new cabinet. In this context, the Greens began to actively promote a series of so-called "environmental measures", which placed a heavy burden on the German economy and also had an impact on the normal economic development of the country.
How to deal with this situation is a serious challenge for the Greens because they lack the experience to govern. Therefore, they need to find ways to "throttle", and canceling development assistance to China becomes a potential option. In the view of the Greens, it does not matter whether China is considered a developing country, what is important is to save a lot of money by stopping cooperation with China, which can be used to compensate for the huge losses caused by the abolition of nuclear and thermal power generation in Germany. As for whether the money should really be considered aid, the Greens don't care too much.
Second, the rise of the right in Germany, the central government had to cater to this trend. Usually, the German right-wing forces are stronger in the east, mainly due to the unfair treatment of the eastern region by the German central government after the end of the Cold War. The failure of the German government to fully invest in the development of the eastern region in the past few years has led to a widening gap between the east and the west, and there is widespread discontent in the eastern region, which is one of the main reasons why the right-wing forces have gained a social base in the eastern region. In recent years, the overall German economy has faced great challenges, and the continuous penetration of right-wing ideas, especially inspired by the Trump administration in the United States, has made Germany's right-wing forces more extreme. Even the newly elected left-wing government cannot ignore this phenomenon, so it needs to cater to the right-wing forces by hyping up some foreign-related topics. While the title "Aid to China" may involve conceptual confusion, it is eye-catching enough to cater to conservative right-wing forces.
All in all, changes in Germany's internal political situation and external economic difficulties have made development assistance to China a controversial topic. The resolution of this issue will involve complex political and economic considerations, as well as significant implications for international relations. Germany will have to weigh the pros and cons and make decisions that are in the national interest and in the spirit of international cooperation.
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