So far, Xi Jinping's China has not been a country to which Germany should carelessly entrust its critical infrastructure.
After the most recent party congress, this is all the more true.
Only men who have Xi to thank for their careers now sit on the top management body in Beijing.
No resistance is to be expected from them should the head of state and party continue to keep his country on a collision course with the West and rely on state dirigisme in the economy.
Anyone who stood for more pragmatism was sidelined.
Taiwan has a key role to play
Nothing that has happened in the past few days suggests that Xi Jinping might moderate in the future.
On the contrary, he has made it clear that he sees the party's hold on power threatened by the American policy of containment.
He wants to oppose that.
Taiwan plays a key role in this conflict.
It can be expected that Xi will put even more pressure on the island nation politically and militarily.
Having served the usual two terms in office, Xi now sees himself as a historical figure while still alive.
This gives rise to fears that his decisions are being guided by calculations that cannot easily be influenced with economic sanctions.
Nor should one assume that Xi Jinping could exert a moderating influence on the Russian president.
After all, Putin's threat of nuclear weapons and the annexation of Ukrainian territories came just days after the two heads of state met in Samarkand.
So the "questions and concerns" that China had, according to Putin, were not so great that they could have dissuaded Russia from the escalation.
When Chancellor Olaf Scholz flies to Beijing at the beginning of November, he will find a country that is no longer what it was when Angela Merkel last visited.
“As always”, his visit will not expire.
The zero-Covid policy, which forces Scholz and his delegation into a bubble, ensures that.