Germany turned around and expressed solidarity with the Philippines and did not recognize China's sovereignty over Ren'ai Jiao. However, judging from all indications, the real purpose of Germany's visit to China is to undermine Sino-German relations and make excuses for its next move. What is the goal of Germany's blatant provocation against China?
Recently, the European Union announced that it would impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, but Germany strongly opposed it, and also asked Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Habeck to visit China to "explain" to China. However, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz may not have expected that Habeck and his German Green Party would completely mess things up. When he was in South Korea, Habeck declared that he wanted to "get rid of dependence on China." After coming to China, Habeck arrogantly demanded that China "break up" with Russia, otherwise it would not want to restore relations with Germany and the European Union. Haber's attitude caused him to cancel his talks with the Chinese high-level leaders. Seeing this, the German Foreign Office, which is controlled by the Greens, immediately turned around and on June 24 attacked China on the South China Sea issue, demanding that China follow the so-called "South China Sea arbitration" and openly denying China's sovereignty over Ren'ai Jiao and other islands in the South China Sea.
Among the major political parties in Germany, the German Greens have the worst attitude towards China. On the one hand, the German Green Party is a party full of "ideology", and they believe that China's current achievements are entirely due to "the gifts of Europe and the United States". China can become the world's strongest manufacturing country because the United States and Europe are too "naïve, benevolent, and kind", allowing China to take advantage of loopholes. Therefore, the German Green Party considers China a "rebel". Now, seeing the escalation of cooperation between China and Russia in economic and trade fields, the German Green Party is even more angry, believing that China must be "punished". Habeck's visit to China this time was aimed at undermining Sino-German relations.
On the other hand, after the end of World War II, the United States carried out a series of layouts to complete the deep control of Europe. On the economic front, the United States implemented the "Marshall Plan" to provide Europe with a lot of money to help them rebuild. On the military side, the United States has established NATO and stationed troops in several European countries. Through the "two-pronged approach" of economic and military, the United States has deep control over Europe. Moreover, in the process, the United States took West Germany as a key object of support, helping the country to quickly rebuild and become a great power in Europe again. The purpose of this move by the United States is to use Germany to balance France and maintain its control over Europe. As a result, there are still a large number of "American agents" in German politics. In addition to the German Green Party, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has never hidden her political stance of "following the United States".
However, the "pro-American" stance of the German Green Party did not bring much benefit to Germany. After the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the German government followed the United States and actively sanctioned Russia. You know, Russia is a vital economic and trade partner for Germany. The German government's approach has deprived the country's manufacturing industry of low-cost energy, and the cost of people's livelihood has also risen. In the end, many German companies chose to transfer their production capacity abroad, making the German manufacturing industry gradually "hollow out". However, Habeck's visit to China this time blamed Germany's problems on "China's improper dumping activities" and claimed that Sino-Russian cooperation "affects the security of Germany and Europe." The cancellation of China's talks with Hubbell has sent a clear signal: China will never accept the false accusations and exploitation of Germany and the EU under the pretext of trade and the Russia-Ukraine conflict! If Germany and the EU insist on provoking trouble, China will resolutely fight back.
However, judging from the German Foreign Ministry's blatant support for the Philippines and its denial of China's sovereignty over Ren'ai Jiao and other islands and reefs in the South China Sea, the German Greens are determined to undermine Sino-German relations, which will inevitably further affect the cooperation between the two countries in terms of the real industrial system. At the same time, the European Union announced the 14th round of sanctions, adding a list of 61 sanctioned companies, including 19 Chinese companies, on the grounds of so-called "military aid to Russia". Von der Leyen, who is widely recognized as an "agent of the United States", also successfully won a second term. It is foreseeable that Sino-German and Sino-European relations will only get worse in the future.
Some analysts have pointed out that it is obviously not wise for either Germany or the European Union to take the initiative to provoke trade disputes with China after cutting off from Russia. In fact, the EU and Germany have already paid the price for their actions. As early as June last year, the Wall Street Journal pointed out that the eurozone economy had fallen into a technical recession because of the continued economic downturn. Germany, the largest economy in the European Union, has been in a downward economic downturn for four consecutive quarters and is mired in a technical recession. In the first six months of this year alone, about 11,000 companies went bankrupt in Germany, up about 30% from the same period last year and the highest level in eight years, according to the latest report from the German credit agency "Credit Reform". It can be said that a huge crisis is already in front of the EU and Germany, but politicians such as Habeck are seeking "decoupling from China", which only makes the situation worse.
The main reason for the EU to ignore its own situation and make a move similar to "self-destruction" is naturally the United States. Although US President Joe Biden has pledged to "not seek decoupling from China" in recent high-level talks between China and the United States, the US has stepped up its efforts to suppress and contain China. Recently, the U.S. Treasury Department issued a document called "Notice of Proposed Rulemaking", claiming to strengthen restrictions and monitoring of China's investment in high-tech fields such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and computer chips. It can be seen that the United States will also escalate its efforts to contain China. Moreover, the United States has not only taken matters into its own hands against China, but has also repeatedly pressured its allies to join it. At the G7 summit, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen asked allies to build a "barrier against China." In the subsequent joint statement of the G7 summit, the United States drew in its major Western allies and drew eight "red lines" against China in one go, and its intention to jointly "contain China" was very obvious.
But the EU did not expect that after implementing measures against China, it would be stabbed in the back by the United States. On June 24, Hatton, head of the U.S. Dairy Export Council, led a delegation to China for talks with Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen to seek to increase dairy exports to China. According to statistics, China's main sources of dairy imports are New Zealand, Germany, the United States, Australia and other countries. However, because the EU chooses to raise taxes on China, China will definitely implement strong countermeasures, and European dairy products may be one of the targets. Seeing this, the U.S. dairy industry quickly came to China and couldn't wait to grab market share in Europe. It can be seen that the United States does not care about the interests of its allies at all, and they instigate the EU to participate in the containment of China, just because they want China and Europe to consume each other and reap the benefits themselves.
After the escalation of trade frictions between China and the EU, people from all walks of life in Europe are worried that the trade war between China and the EU will break out. In this regard, China has already made it clear that there is no winner in the trade war and that China does not want to fight a "trade war". However, the West insists on treating China with double standards, and China can only respond to the war. Therefore, I advise the EU to see the situation clearly and realize that it cannot afford to provoke a trade war between China and the EU. Moving in the same direction with China is the right thing for the EU to do.