China is taking a stake in a Hamburg port terminal, which is causing controversy and concern in Germany. The period of opposition to participation officially expires on Monday. The president of the European Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, Jörg Wuttke, clarifies: overall, China is much more dependent on the European market than Europe is on China.
Wuttke explains the enthusiasm in German politics as follows: “I think you see everything through Russian oil and gas glasses. And there was indeed a significant addiction that can hardly be compensated for.” However, according to the president of the European Chamber of Commerce in China (EUCCC), things are quite different with China than with Russia.
For example, the country sells furniture, clothing, sports equipment and mobile phones in Europe, explains Wuttke, who is also the main representative of BASF China. In the first eight months of this year, four million containers arrived from the Asian country, while Europe exported only one million containers of goods to China.
However, where there is actually an addiction is in the area of rare earths and pharmaceutical precursors such as vitamin B or magnesium, explains Wuttke. “In fact, we are extremely dependent on China,” said the president of the Chamber of Commerce. “And then you have to worry if you can find other places where you can buy it or use new technologies to design it in such a way that you no longer depend on these twenty products or so.”
