According to the global network, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will visit China from April 15 to 16, accompanied by officials including German Environment Minister Lemke, Agriculture Minister Özdemir and Minister of Transport and Digitalization Wiesing, accompanied by three ministers, Scholz will visit China, which indicates that the two sides will carry out a new round of cooperation in the fields of environment, agriculture and environment. So far, the well-known automobile brand Mercedes-Benz has confirmed that its chairman of the board of directors Kang Linsong will visit China with Scholz, including the chairman of the board of directors of the home appliance giant Siemens, Philip Zepzer, chairman of the BMW Group, and Ge Lihe, CEO of the laboratory equipment and semiconductor chemicals Merck Group, will visit China with the German Chancellor.
It can be seen that the German government and enterprises are looking forward to this visit to China, in fact, it is easy to understand that German companies are competing for seats in the delegation, mainly to expand their business in China. However, under normal circumstances, economic and trade issues are one of the main areas of concern for the two countries during a visit to China, and the German side hopes to take the opportunity of this visit to China to deepen Sino-German economic and trade relations. However, this lineup for visiting China was an arrangement made by the German side after careful consideration, because the Green Party camp headed by German Foreign Minister Baerbock and Economy Minister Habeck is a small number of anti-China politicians in Germany, and Scholz did not arrange for them to accompany them to visit China, which shows that Germany attaches great importance to this trip.
According to the list, automakers account for a large proportion of the companies visiting China, mainly because they operate several joint ventures with Chinese companies in the world's largest auto market. From the perspective of German companies, they are not only interested in developing their business in China, but also about investing in Chinese companies. However, it should be noted that the competition for seats in the visit to China by German companies is taking place in the context of the government's so-called "de-risking". It is reported that the German government issued its first "China strategy" document last year, calling China a "systemic adversary" and advocating "de-risking" and reducing economic dependence on China.
As for the German government's stance on China, it is nothing more than hoping to deepen the economic ties between the two countries through this visit. Obviously, the so-called "decoupling" from China is simply unrealistic. According to the data, the bilateral trade volume between China and Germany in 2023 will be 253.1 billion euros, and since 2016, China has been Germany's largest trading partner for eight consecutive years. China has proven to be a very important economic and trade partner for Germany, and given the slow growth of the domestic economy, the visit to China may also be to get more opportunities for cooperation with China.
On the occasion of Scholz's upcoming visit to China, China's Minister of Commerce first visited Europe to encourage Chinese enterprises, with the intention of further consolidating the foundation of China-EU economic and trade cooperation and dispelling some misunderstandings between EU countries about China. According to the Observer, Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao presided over a roundtable of Chinese-funded electric vehicle companies in Europe in Paris, France. During the meeting, the Chinese side mainly introduced the investment and operation in the EU and how to respond to the EU anti-subsidy investigation of electric vehicles. Not only that, in response to the accusations of the United States and European countries against China's "overcapacity" of electric vehicles, Minister Wang Wentao also made China's attitude clear to U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen.
During her visit to China, Yellen said that China's "cheap" exports of green energy technologies are threatening the electric vehicle and solar industries that the United States is trying to develop. China's remarks are aimed at reminding Western countries that a correct view of China's development is a prerequisite for cooperation with China.