Scholz begins visit to nation amid rising concerns in Europe over ‘unfair’ practices
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrived in Chongqing yesterday on the first leg of a three-day visit taking place amid growing tensions between Europe and Beijing over claims of unfair competition.
Scholz is accompanied by a large business delegation and is hoping to use the trip to shore up economic relations.
The foreign ministry in Beijing said Scholz would meet President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang to discuss the relationship between the two countries and issues of common concern.
His delegation includes Germany’s environment, agriculture and transport ministers as well as business leaders such as BMW chief executive Oliver Zipse and executives from Mercedes Benz and Siemens.
This is Scholz’s second trip to China after he took office, following his first visit in November 2022. He is also the first leader of a major Western country to visit China this year.
Pang Zhongying, a chair professor of international political economy at Sichuan University, said Scholz’s visit was likely to help German companies, especially those in the new energy vehicle industry, further develop their business in China.
“Southwest China used to be economically underdeveloped, but now it’s a new economic growth hub,” Pang said.
Shangyou News, an online news platform affiliated with the official Chongqing Daily, said that as of February, Germany had set up a total of 84 companies in the southwestern metropolis, playing a role in “the construction and development of Chongqing”.
Scholz’s visit to the megacity began with a trip to a plant making hydrogen fuel cells set up by the German company Bosch – a field that the authorities in Chongqing and the neighbouring province of Sichuan have been keen to develop in recent years.
Despite positive messaging from Beijing about the state of the Chinese economy, there is a growing scepticism about the country’s immediate growth prospects and Pang said Scholz’s visit showed that “both Germany and the European Union want to know the real situation of China’s economy”.
Ding Chun, a professor specialising in European studies at Fudan University, said Germany could not decouple from China and “needs to maintain and deepen economic and trade exchanges and cooperation with China”.
The German Federal Statistical Office said in February that China “was Germany’s most important trading partner in 2023 for the eighth year running”.
Bilateral merchandise trade dropped by 8.7 per cent from a year earlier to US$206.8 billion in 2023, according to the General Administration of Customs. China’s exports fell by 13 per cent year on year to US$100.6 billion.
Scholz’s visit takes place while the EU raises concerns that foreign companies do not face a level playing field, citing factors such as market barriers and industrial overcapacity.
Earlier this month, the German Chamber of Commerce in China released a survey in which twothirds of the businesses questioned said they believed they faced “unfair competition”.
“Chinese and German companies are increasingly becoming close competitors – both in China itself and in global markets,” the chamber said.