A few days ago, after the visit of the German Vice Chancellor to China, German Transport Minister Wiesing also came to China and reached a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese side on cross-border data transfer, which is in addition to the cooperation agreement reached between China and Germany during Scholz's visit to China in April this year. The main beneficiaries of the memorandum are German car companies that have a large presence in China and have built factories in China to ensure the technical communication between China and Germany. The German industry praised this, saying that it is important to maintain the leading position of German automotive technology.
It is understood that the Chinese regulator previously issued relevant regulations to prohibit smart cars from transmitting data externally, and German car companies do not know what data can be transmitted, and it is difficult to negotiate directly with the Chinese government. Therefore, the memorandum signed by Wisin made the German car companies feel very excited.
However, the memorandum signed by Wissin, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, was not endorsed by the other two coalition parties. The Greens, which run the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Economy, and the Social Democrats, which run the Ministry of the Interior, have all criticized Wiesin's visit to China. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz blamed Wissing for not consulting them in advance, and said that the German government has developed a China strategy that members of the government should use as a benchmark for action.
The German Ministry of Transport also refuted this, saying that the government had been informed of the details before Wissing's visit to China, and the draft of the memorandum had already been submitted. And Wiesing also said earlier that a trade war with China would be a disaster for Germany and not in the interests of the European Union. If tariffs are raised by each other, German companies will only lose their enterprising spirit, resulting in higher product prices without improving services, and it is the majority of consumers who will ultimately suffer.
Germany's three-party coalition has led to frequent inconsistencies in foreign policy between key officials and the government, but it is not common for someone like Scholz to backtrack. Earlier, Scholz said that he expects the EU and China to reach a friendly solution in early July. He also proposed to the EU to remove tariffs, that is, China and the EU would impose the same tariffs on each other's cars, but the EU considered Scholz's idea "unrealistic" and even worried that the EU's negotiating position would be softened due to Germany's boycott. The EU also told Scholz that the focus of dealing with China is not on tariffs, but on "creating fair conditions and balancing Chinese subsidies."
The reason why Scholz opposed the EU's tariffs on China before was mainly because he was worried that China would take countermeasures against EU fuel vehicles, and Germany is a major producer of cars in the EU, so it will naturally suffer more losses. The memorandum signed by German Transport Minister Wiesing in China is mainly to serve the field of smart cars, since fuel vehicles do not take advantage of anything, so Scholz is not interested in this memorandum. This also exposes a problem for the German government, that is, the choice and entanglement between national interests and political interests. German corporate capital has a certain influence on German politics, if the German government does not care about corporate interests, the political career is estimated to not last long, and the smart electric vehicle industry has not formed a mainstream in Germany, which gives Scholz the courage to continue to wave.
The three parties in the coalition government in Germany have constrained each other, resulting in frequent changes in German policy, and no one party can play a decisive role, which is why the German and French leaders are treated differently when they visit China. Although Scholz did not admit it this time, it is not entirely a bad thing, at least it can make China see the true attitude of the German government.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said that the EU has no future for protectionism, and that openness and cooperation are the right path, and China urges the EU to abide by its commitment to support free trade and oppose protectionism, and work with China to safeguard the overall situation of China-EU economic and trade cooperation. China will take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.