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Container handling in Shanghai: formulate interests more clearly and distinctly
Photo: ALY SONG / REUTERS
Economics Minister Peter Altmaier and the chairman of the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business (APA), Joe Kaeser, have called on German companies to look for more alternatives to doing business in China in Asia.
"Of course we want to diversify our supply chains," said Altmaier before the Asia-Pacific conference of German business.
The corona pandemic showed that supply chains that are very one-sided lead to dependencies and are prone to interruptions, he said with a view to China.
The background was bottlenecks, for example when ordering medical protective goods when China was at the height of the corona pandemic.
Altmaier pointed out that other Asian countries such as Singapore or South Korea had also handled the corona pandemic very well.
"As a result, the growth forces regained the upper hand very early on."
You have to take advantage of that.
Big differences
Kaeser named Vietnam and Indonesia in particular as important alternatives for investment.
"Many multinationals have invested heavily in Vietnam," he said.
Germany has promoted dual training there so that qualified workers are available.
One could "move relatively quickly" into the country.
In addition to India, which will soon be the most populous country on earth, Kaeser also named Indonesia.
There is a growing middle class with 300 million inhabitants.
German companies and politics should promote the qualification of employees, as was done earlier in China.
Chancellor Angela Merkel pointed out that currently 75 percent of German exports to Asia went to East Asia, half to China alone.
"With this in mind, there are still many opportunities to diversify and enter additional markets across the Asia-Pacific region," she added.
Equal treatment of companies, transparency, legal security and the protection of intellectual property are important.
In all four areas, German companies repeatedly complain about problems in China.
As far as the negotiations between the EU and China on an investment agreement are concerned, Altmaier still sees "big chunks".
There is great potential for growth.
Equal access to markets is important, however.
In mid-September, the EU demanded far-reaching concessions from China before the negotiations on an investment agreement were concluded.
If an agreement is to be reached by the end of the year as planned, China will still have to do a lot on the issues of market access and sustainable development, said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen after top EU talks with China's President Xi Jinping.
Committee boss Kaeser also reiterated his conviction that the EU must formulate its economic policy interests more clearly and uniformly in competition with the USA and China.
Kaeser said new economic figures showed China got out of the corona pandemic quickly.
China's economy grew by 4.9 percent in the third quarter compared to the previous year, according to the Beijing statistics office.
In the first quarter, China had recorded negative economic growth of 6.8 percent.
With a view to the increasing skepticism towards democratic institutions, Altmaier said that Germany and the EU had to show that the pandemic could be fought just as effectively with an open society model as in other forms of government and society.
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