Germanische Medien: Deutscher Außenminister wird Mitte April Peking besuchen

31.03.2023

According to the German “Handelsblatt” report, German Federal Foreign Minister Berbock will visit China in mid-April. And the focus of her trip will be the federal government’s yet-to-be-announced new China strategy.

(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) After Chinese President Xi Jinping concluded his visit to Russia in March this year, China kicked off the prelude to its home diplomacy. Meanwhile, Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez has arrived in Beijing and met with Xi Jinping. Spain will take over the rotating EU presidency on July 1 this year.French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission PresidentVon der LeyenHe will also visit Beijing next week.

German “Handelsblatt” quoted sources as saying that German Foreign Minister Berbock will also fly to Beijing after the Easter holiday in April. After her visit to China, she will fly to Japan to meet with the G7 foreign ministers.

Petra Sigmund, Director of the Asia-Pacific Department of the German Foreign Ministry, had already traveled to Beijing at the end of February this year to pave the way for Belbork’s visit to China. The Handelsblatt reported that one of the key topics of Belbork’s visit to China will be the German government’s unannouncedChina strategy. The strategy was drafted by the German Foreign Office.

It is reported that according to this new strategy, Germany will adjust its relations with China and take into account China’s growing influence.

Last year, it was reported that the German Chancellery was dissatisfied with the overly tough wording in the new China strategy formulated by the Foreign Ministry and charged it with making revisions. The revised version is said to have been toned down. However, according to the cabinet agreement of the current government, Germany still defines China as: a partner, a competitor and an institutional opponent.

At present, there are still differences within the federal government on when to announce the new China strategy.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs tends toGerman-Chinese government consultation meetingThe strategy will be released before the meeting, but the Prime Minister’s Office hopes to release it after the consultation meeting.becauseGerman Minister of Education Stark-Watzinger(Bettina Stark-Watzinger) just visited Taiwan not long ago, and some risk-averse opinions within the German government are hesitant to announce the still relatively tough China strategy before the German-Chinese government consultation meeting. The German-Chinese government consultation meeting is expected to be held in June this year. It can be seen that the release of this strategy may be further delayed.

“Business Daily” pointed out that the content of China’s strategy should not surprise Beijing, at least the content does not exceed the scope of the original version. In an interview with Handelsblatt, the Chinese ambassador to Germany criticized China’s strategy as “under the guidance of ideology”.

However, the analysis of “Business Daily” believes that Beijing still hopes to maintain a good bilateral relationship with Germany.

(comprehensive report)

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