German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Reuters that Germany may be naive in certain areas of cooperation with China at first, but it should not cut off all ties in order to deal with increasing tensions.
Merkel’s engagement strategy allowed China to become Germany’s largest trading partner during her 16 years in power and shaped Europe’s stance on the rising superpowers in Asia, even in the face of concerns about unfair competition and industrial espionage.
In an interview, Merkel said: “Maybe we were too naive about certain partnerships at the beginning.” “We look more closely these days and this is correct.”
Merkel did not participate in re-election in September last year. Once the new government has reached an agreement, he will step down. He said that Germany and the wider EU should continue to cooperate with China and learn from each other.
“In my opinion, complete decoupling is wrong, and it will cause us harm,” she said.
China became Germany’s largest trading partner in 2016, and its rapid economic expansion drove Germany’s growth during her tenure. But some critics say that Germany is now too dependent on China and is too weak against Beijing on embarrassing issues such as human rights violations.
The Merkel administration has stated that she always deals with human rights issues during official visits to Beijing — no less than 12 of them — and seeks to diversify Asian trade.
Merkel said that Germany has been discussing intellectual property and patent protection with Beijing, “whether it is about Chinese students in Germany or German companies operating in China.”
She also stated that Western democracies that are trying to set ethical standards for new technologies must keep pace with innovation in order to grasp its impact.
“Currently, this is not the case in Europe in fields such as quantum computers and artificial intelligence,” she said. “China and the United States are doing better in many areas.”
But Merkel said that the country must still protect its critical infrastructure, and pointed out that a new IT security law in Germany has set high barriers for next-generation telecommunications network equipment manufacturers, such as China’s Huawei.
“However, I think it is always important to emphasize that individual companies should not be excluded from the beginning.”
Merkel is now acting as a caretaker, awaiting the formation of a new coalition government, and some of the potential members advocate a tougher stance against China.
“We need an open system to evaluate everyone according to the same standards,” she said.
