German Chancellor Scholz Seals Deals in Beijing

On 4 November 2022, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is on official visit to Beijing right after the 20th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. The visit marks the first visit of a #G7 country in three years. French President Macron proposed to form an EU delegation, but the German decided to stick to the bilateral format. The delegation consisted of the who’s who of German business, with executives from Merck, Siemens, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, and such like.

Chancellor took a ‘business-first approach’ and economy dominated the bilateral meetings. China confirmed its order for 140 Airbus jets worth USD 17 billion which was put on hold due to the #COVID pandemic. The European plane maker is poised to gain after relations soured between China and USA, with Boeing getting sidelined.

In addition, German parliament finally gave the green light for Chinese company Cosco to buy a stake into the Hamburg port. The exact share is to be negotiated and finalized but it is expected that Germany will keep the controlling stake.

Currently, the Chinese market is also the largest market for German auto makers and German car manufacturers depend heavily on raw materials and parts from China which do not have obvious alternative sources.