German media: Facing China's technological offensive, can we reverse the situation? It's too late
This Thursday, the German antitrust authority officially approved the plan for Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com to acquire the German electronics chain store Mediamarkt-Saturn.
The newspaper Bild published a commentary on this issue. The author, Dirk General-Kuchel, is the editor-in-chief of Computer Bild. He wrote: "Perhaps some people will say: 'It's just a chain retail store being acquired, no need to make a big deal out of it.' But this acquisition is just one of the surface manifestations of China's strong expansionist ambitions."
I often participate in discussions on this topic, and my inner world is also contradictory: as a tech enthusiast, I admire the innovation power of Chinese products. Chinese robotic vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers, smartphones, smart home products, batteries, and electric vehicles are no longer simple copies of Western technology. On the contrary, China has already been setting standards for various possibilities of modern technology.
The question is, can we reverse the situation? My answer is that it's too late. For many years, on both political and economic levels, we have made too many naive mistakes and taken a laissez-faire attitude towards too many things.
We once laughed at some things from other countries, which are exactly the things that Europeans, especially us Germans, now lack the most: including things like a "five-year plan," setting clear visions, and guiding us clearly in the direction of progress. As long as we cannot clarify our goals, our country will become increasingly like a product from a cheap online store.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1843756813202441/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.