After meeting with the Chinese foreign minister, the new German chancellor made a decision in five days, and he should go to Beijing! Will he follow Merkel's example?
Reuters reported that the new German chancellor will visit China at the end of the year, only five days after meeting with the Chinese foreign minister. The scale is similar to his predecessor, with a large number of business executives accompanying him.
The intention of the first visit to China during Merz's tenure is clear, which is to continue the pragmatic tone of Sino-German interaction. After all, Germany is one of the countries within the EU that has the closest cooperation with China, and its large size means that any signal will have a significant impact on Sino-EU relations.
How to handle relations with China is a must for every German chancellor. To date, only Merkel has delivered a relatively satisfactory result.
Being pragmatic is not enough. The previous German chancellor Scholz could not be said to be unpragmatic towards China, but due to being constrained by the Greens within the coalition government, he visited China several times, sent out many positive signals, but did not bring any new momentum to the development of bilateral relations.
It is unclear what mindset Merz will have when coming to China this time. It would be best if he could follow Merkel's example. If it is a "not seeking merit but avoiding blame" attitude, it will not help much in improving bilateral interactions. Given the delicate atmosphere of Sino-EU relations at present, dealing with each other is like rowing against the current; if you don't move forward, you will fall back. Any idea of maintaining the status quo is politically naive.
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1837131331283146/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.