Chancellor Olaf Scholz in China, a highly criticized visit

In China, Olaf Scholz will have to engage in a very complex balancing act.

AP - Michael Sohn

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

The German Chancellor's trip is the first by a Western leader to Beijing since the Covid-19 pandemic.

It comes as several European countries seem to want to distance themselves from China.

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Twenty-three hours by plane, eleven hours on the spot.

Rarely has an official visit to China been so brief.

Rarely, too, has it drawn so much criticism.

These are heard even within the coalition of Olaf Scholz, reports our correspondent in Berlin,

.

The Greens reject “business as usual”, denounce Beijing's human rights abuses and the risk, as in the past with Russia, of being dependent on an undemocratic country.

The Christian Democrats are also critical, forgetting rather quickly the twelve on-site visits by Angela Merkel, especially interested in seeing the giants of

win contracts.

Berlin's European partners do not see this move very favorably either.

The German Chancellor is notably accused of going to Beijing just after Xi Jinping's re-election, which can be seen as a tribute to an autocratic regime, reports our correspondent in Brussels,

.

Within the European Council, doubtful voices were raised at the last EU summit when Olaf Scholz confirmed his intention to authorize

to the powerful Chinese group Cosco.

A decision taken against the advice of several of his ministers and to which 7 out of 10 Germans say they are opposed.

Two-thirds of them also argue for less dependence on China.

An essential partner

Europeans could also reproach Olaf Scholz for going alone to China, when there were other solutions to meet Xi Jinping: a trip with French President Emmanuel Macron, as the latter had proposed to him, or a meeting together at a G20 summit in two weeks.

European Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton sums up the general feeling by saying that Europeans should rather adopt common approaches to China, which is a rival.

But for Berlin, Beijing remains an essential partner.

Second customer for its exports, China represents 1 million jobs in Germany, or 3% of its workforce.

Beijing is also a key supplier for its imports of low-cost manufactured goods.

It is also an essential country for its automotive industry where it achieves 30% of its turnover.

The German automotive sector has invested 10 billion euros in China since the beginning of the year. 

Olaf Scholz has nevertheless promised in a forum that he

" with Beijing, whether it is human rights, Taiwan or the lack of criticism of China at the time. regard to Russia.

The chancellor will have to engage in a very complex exercise in diplomatic acrobatics.

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• Olaf Scholz

• Germany

• China