Can Germany continue to do business with China as before?

The answer is no.

And not least for economic reasons.

It is simply negligent to make oneself economically so dependent on a country that could soon be ostracized in the West like Russia.

For a long time, Germany considered China to be a rival in “system competition”, for a controlled market economy that overdid it here and there with subsidies and surveillance, but which still offered more advantages than disadvantages.

For several years, however, the country has been developing more and more clearly into a dictatorship that will stop at nothing and to which liberal values ​​mean nothing.

Only appeals come from Berlin

Millions of people in Shanghai and other cities are locked in their homes for months without a secure food supply.

Hong Kong was subdued with a vengeance.

In the Xingjiang region, Beijing allows Muslims to be physically and psychologically harassed.

What if the next step is to attack Taiwan?

While the International Monetary Fund is warning of the world breaking up into new economic blocs and the United States has viewed China as an enemy for years, Chancellor Olaf Scholz was of the opinion two weeks ago that economic relations with China should be further intensified.

At best, appeals are now coming from Berlin for companies to “diversify” their businesses.

How companies react to such advice can be observed in Baden-Württemberg: Bosch, Daimler and Co. don't give a damn and want to continue growing in China.

That is rational for every single company.

Especially since, even in the event of a crisis, they can rely on the government to protect them.

The waiver of a gas embargo against Russia, which is in the interests of the chemical company BASF, is exemplary.

Economically, this “keep it up” is like playing with fire, as the example of Russia shows.

Alternatives are needed, especially where products only come from China and the dependency is particularly high.

And the government must make it clear to companies that they are traveling in China at their own risk.