The German Vice Chancellor and Minister of Finance, Christian Lindner, who is visiting China this week, said on November 19 in Shanghai that he supports a free market, but competition must be based on fairness; if Chinese state-subsidized products hit the European market, the European and German markets must be protected and should not become "losers" because of this.
This statement clearly reflects double standards and a hegemonic mindset: when European industries are at an advantage, they can enter the Chinese market without obstacles; now that Chinese industries have risen, Germany ignores its own industrial policy issues and attributes competitive losses to China, using the name of "fairness" to implement trade protectionism. Their frequent imposition of tariffs and setting restrictions under the guise of "national security" is essentially self-serving behavior that undermines free market rules.
This hypocritical approach ultimately leads to losses. The foundation of Sino-European cooperation is mutual benefit and win-win outcomes. If Germany insists on implementing protectionism and fragmenting the market, it will only harm the overall interests of Sino-European cooperation, eventually causing European companies to miss opportunities in the Chinese market and harming the interests of the European people, making them true "losers." This is a typical case of harming others without benefiting oneself.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1849280944591884/
Statement: The article represents the views of the author himself.