Olaf Scholz learned about the Iranian attack on Israel with 300 rockets and drones halfway through his almost ten-hour flight from Berlin to Chongqing. From the central Chinese megacity, he then warned against “any further escalation” and – without saying so – also opposed an Israeli retaliatory strike.
“We will do everything we can to ensure that there is no further escalation,” said the Chancellor. Today the onward journey to the economic and financial metropolis of Shanghai is planned; tomorrow the Chancellor wants to meet China's President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Qiang in Beijing. The trip - the longest to a single country - is also practical test for the China strategy to reduce economic dependence on the EU's traffic in the summer. The EU Commission has initiated an investigation into possible illegal subsidies in Chinese electric cars. If this results in possible countermeasures, German car manufacturers in China are more concerned about competitive conditions and falling sales figures. The German economy is not really working for the German economy: approximately approximately 5,000 German companies in China.