In the past two days, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's visit to China has attracted wide attention from all walks of life, and many people have placed high hopes on Sino-German cooperation in the automotive industry. I don't want to talk about China-Germany and China-EU relations, but in April last year, under the wave of anti-China in Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron visited China against the wind, which can be called the "ambassador of China" for the whole of Europe, but what did he do later?
When French President Emmanuel Macron visited China in 2023, the team led by him was as luxurious as today's team of German Chancellor Scholz: Airbus, EDF, Alstom and other well-known international companies did not fall behind, and the goal was directly aimed at Sino-French cooperation in new energy.
In the end, it is the protectionism of France that is at fault, and it is clear that France is not as open as Macron's visit to China.
The strange thing is that Germany, as one of the world's top automobile producers and exporters, should have issued the biggest opposition to China's new energy vehicles going overseas, as a result, the United States Treasury Yellen just left China, German Chancellor Scholz came to China, including German local industry associations and media, and simultaneously hyped Sino-German cooperation in the automobile industry.
During his visit to China, Scholz stressed that the EU market must compete with Chinese cars on an open and fair basis, and the German Association of the Automotive Industry directly warned the EU with a trade war: do not impose additional tariffs on China's new energy vehicles.
It is undeniable that Germany's statement is of great political significance to open up the European market for China's new energy vehicles, but do you think Scholz is for China's good? Of course not, he is only for Germany's own interests.
Sino-German cooperation in the automobile industry has a long history, which also means that Germany has invested in a lot of Chinese car companies, or simply has a joint venture brand with the development of China, compared with China's domestic cars, these joint venture brands are either selling dog meat on the head of a sheep, or changing the soup without changing the medicine, but fortunately, some car brands have a very high degree of recognition in Europe, which opens up a new situation for China's new energy vehicle exports.
But again, our advanced technology can be used on Toyota, Honda, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz, but in order to achieve a real "breakthrough", it is necessary to promote our own brands to the world, so that Chinese enterprises can walk to the center of the world stage.
Therefore, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's visit to China is indeed a signal of cooperation to China, but it is still necessary to view this invitation for cooperation rationally. The most important thing is that no one knows whether Scholz will turn his face like Macron after he goes back.
To be honest, in recent years, there have been too many Western politicians who say one thing and do another, and there are too many countries that have oscillated between China and the United States, and the Chinese have long been tired of watching this set.
Openness and cooperation are indeed the main tone of China's external development, but we cannot be infinitely tolerant of "wall-to-wall" behavior, we must condemn politicians who say one thing and do another, and we must examine countries that vacillate more objectively and rationally.
Last year, French President Emmanuel Macron became the "European Ambassador to China", this year, it is the turn of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, next year, who will be the turn?
In the final analysis, it is still necessary to listen to their words and watch their deeds, and it doesn't matter what they say, what matters is what they do.