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A memorable, historic year is drawing to a close.
The virus came into the world from China.
The economy there has long been booming again;
our hospitals are still filling up.
(This is partly the fault of the German government, which did not procure enough masks in the spring. And while hundreds of thousands in other countries are already supplied with German vaccine, individual, first citizens in this country will not get their turn until this Sunday.)
The coming year is decisive for dealing with the Chinese regime.
From January, China will become a member of the UN Human Rights Council.
The country of hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs in camps, whose Hong Kong government is choking off the air, which has sentenced freedom activist (and our columnist) Joshua Wong to a ridiculously high prison term, and which has already set its sights on Taiwan as its next destination.
We live in a world in which many things no longer fit together.
Dealing with China is just one example.
Europe is lagging behind global developments.
In Germany one hopes in vain for clear statements about the future, such as Helmut Schmidt or Helmut Kohl would have made.
Politics has often degenerated into a purely tactical maneuver.
Central viewpoints are also sacrificed to maintain power.
For example, nuclear power is experiencing a climate-friendly renaissance in many nations, but not in Germany.
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In this country, the political and social debate is too often lost in the small and small so-called identity-political debates, driven by radical minorities: How many genders there are, or which children's books contain words that should be banned today.
Almost a year ago, a news magazine wrote about Corona that many healthy people in Germany were worried about being infected.
This is "completely irrational - and discriminates against Asians." Chinese, if they noticed, would probably laugh at what we spend our time with.
Despite everything, there is reason for hope at the turn of the year: the first vaccines have arrived.
2021 will be a year with six state elections, two local elections and of course the federal election.
The voice of the citizens is heard.
As in the USA, democracy lives and thrives precisely because citizens and politicians disagree with one another.
It's not always nice, but democratically healthy.
And new technology is finally coming from German car companies.
This text is from WELT AM SONNTAG. We are happy to deliver them to your home on a regular basis.
Source: WELT AM SONNTAG