German Foreign Minister Urges Caution Toward Communist China

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock delivers a speech during the congress of the Green Party (Buendnis 90/Die Gruenen) in Bonn, western Germany on Oct. 15, 2022. Ina Fassbender/ AFP via Getty Images

Germany must avoid repeating with China the mistakes that it made in its relationship with Russia over recent years, the German foreign minister said on Oct. 18.

“We must first of all learn from the mistakes of our Russia policy of recent decades,” Annalena Baerbock said at a foreign policy forum in Berlin organized by the Koerber Foundation think tank. “I say very clearly that one-sided economic dependence exposes us to political blackmail.”

Germany is in an energy crisis due to its heavy reliance on Russian gas. Over 55 percent of Germany’s gas consumption came from Russia before the Ukraine war. But since the end of August, Russia hasn’t delivered gas to Germany.

Baerbock acknowledged that the country ignored warnings from eastern European partners about its dependence on Russian energy.

“We must ensure that we don’t make such a mistake again, and that means that we will have to take account of this more strongly in our policy toward China,” Baerbock continues.

“This is why one part of the National Security Strategy is to formulate a German China Strategy for the first time, which is, of course, embedded into the European China Strategy.”

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner speaks at the 2022 Global Solutions summit in Berlin, Germany, on March 28, 2022. Sean Gallup/Getty Images

New China Trade Policy

Baerbock’s remarks are not the first by a German official to voice concerns about Berlin’s close ties with Beijing.

“We have to recognize that we have an enormous risk,” Finance Minister Christian Lindner said in March. “China doesn’t respect our social model, our understanding of liberality, our recognition of international law.”

“Our trade relationship with China is almost a concentration risk for our economy,” Lindner said. “It may be a trading partner, but it’s also [a] systemic rival.”

Beijing maintained the status of Berlin’s most important trading partner in 2021 for six consecutive years, with a trading volume of 246.1 billion euros, the Federal Statistical Office said.

Meanwhile, German companies, especially automakers, have a heavy investment in China. The 7,000 German companies in China and 2,000 Chinese companies in Germany could be “dynamic forces” to bring the countries closer, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in a phone call in January.

Scholz’s new coalition government is reshaping its trade policy with China, aiming to lessen dependence on Beijing, Economy Minister Robert Habeck said.

“We cannot allow ourselves to be blackmailed,” he said in a September interview with Reuters.

While he didn’t reveal all details, Habeck told Reuters an examination of Beijing’s investment would be included. He also expressed opposition to the regime’s Belt and Road Initiative, a multi-billion project that has saddled many developing nations with unsustainable debt levels.

He said there would be “no more naivety” in the trade relationship with the communist regime.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.