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Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP)
Photo: Tobias Schwarz / AFP
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner spoke out against an abrupt change of course in German business dealings with China.
»Decoupling our economy from the Chinese market would not be in the interest of jobs in Germany.
Others would take our place," said the FDP leader of the "Welt am Sonntag".
However, Lindner does not want to stick to China.
Over the coming years and decades, other world regions and markets should gradually become more important.
"The political conditions must be improved for this," said Lindner.
The German government plans to free itself from the strong dependence on China and to contain the enormous influence of the Chinese economy on local companies.
Now the struggle for the right balance between cooperation and differentiation for the new China strategy is ongoing.
In the past few decades, the dependence of the German economy on the Chinese market has continued to increase.
The much cheaper labor there has ensured that local companies can offer cheaper products.
At the same time, many companies managed to increase sales, in some cases enormously, thanks to the huge Chinese market.
In this way, China became an important driver of growth and prosperity in Germany.
But at the same time, the Middle Kingdom has also become stronger and is now increasingly dictating the conditions, often to the detriment of Western companies.
At the same time, the Chinese government is brutally taking action against criticism in the country and against minorities.
German companies are not only gaining from China.
Subsidies for its own economy and the lack of protection of intellectual property are putting the German economy at a serious disadvantage compared to its competitors in China, according to a recent analysis by the Prognos Institute.
The institute estimates that the subsidies in China are three to four times as high as the usual perks in Germany, Japan and the USA.
On top of that, there are, among other things, investment bans for foreign companies in 31 sectors, non-transparent regulation and arbitrary application of regulations.
»Fairy Tales of an Authoritarian State with a Free Market«
The Greens chairman Omid Nouripour told the "Welt am Sonntag" that companies should make decisions about their investments themselves.
But they should be aware that the "fairy tale of an authoritarian state with a free market" is over.
The order of the day is »not less cooperation, but less dependency«.
This applies, for example, to critical infrastructure and medical products.
The scenario of a Chinese attack on Taiwan must also be taken more seriously and prepared for a crisis that will follow.
kig/Reuters
