China-Germany: Olaf Scholz in his bubble in Beijing

Chinese leader Xi Jinping receives German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Beijing on November 4, 2022. AFP - KAY NIETFELD

Text by: Stéphane Lagarde Follow

6 mins

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, on an official visit to China, has lunch with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People.

How is this first visit by a European leader to China's number one who has just been reappointed for a third term perceived in China?

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With our correspondent in Beijing,

After Vietnam, Pakistan and Tanzania, this is the first state visit for Xi Jinping and his new permanent committee from the 20th Party Congress.

A trip reminiscent of Angela Merkel's eagerness two years ago to conclude a comprehensive Europe-China investment agreement.

It is moreover on this stalled agreement that Chinese leaders should insist, while Germany hopes to derive benefits for its business community in China.  

Dependence and stability  

Two major themes run through the Chinese press this morning.

First, the weight of China on the German economy, which would force a certain realism from Berlin in the defense of its interests.

“ 

, writes the

, 

 ”.

An asymmetry in the relationship with the second largest economy in the world which would also apply to Europe: " 

, add the

, 

. 

This is also the analysis of 

 : "

”.

For most Chinese analysts, this controversial decision is on the contrary a guarantee of stability.

“ 

,” Xi Jinping said in remarks reported by the New China Agency on his

account ,  “

".

This visit comes on the occasion of fifty years of diplomatic relations between the two countries and the terms " 

 " and "

 " dear to Chinese diplomacy are probably the ones that come up the most on highly watched Chinese social networks, some applauding the fact that Germany proves by this visit that it is not the " 

 ".   

“Closed circuit” visit 

The trips of the German Chancellor are made within the framework of a “health bubble”.

The delegation must avoid contacts on the spot and the Chinese interlocutors it will meet are subject to quarantine at the end of these meetings, the Chinese president himself should not escape a period of isolation.

"Zero Covid", but not zero carbon!

Given the health constraints, the visit lasts only one day and the exchanges between the Chancellor and the German companies, then the German community in China at the end of the afternoon, will take place partly

interposed screens.

Chinese diplomacy, which did not obtain many concessions on travel restrictions, hopes to obtain more on the rest.

It's unclear exactly who is on the German delegation, but the most optimistic here want to believe that this isn't just a " 

."

Faced with the petition of 186 Chinese intellectuals and dissidents asking for the cancellation of this trip, the German ambassador to China tried to give pledges in an interview with the

a few days ago.

If Germany " 

 ", Patricia Flor expressed "

 ". 

In principle, meetings with human rights activists during official trips are not on the agenda, but that does not mean that there will be no exchanges, at least virtual ones.

Still in an attempt to deceive, the German Embassy in Beijing posted an ironic message on its Weibo account that must not have made the censors laugh.

“ 

 ".

Two questions and two photos: one of the crowd attacking the Berlin Wall and the other of the suppressed Chinese students in Tiananmen Square in 1989.  

mRNA vaccines 

This visit should also and above all reassure German companies, and more generally the European business community in a world shaken by the war in Ukraine and the Covid-19 years.

Germany, by going "

 " risks losing its soul and not getting much in return, say the skeptics.

" 

“says a cautious European diplomat.

Some hope that this trip will be an opportunity to establish a level playing field for German and foreign companies.

Because, on the European side, it is Germany that weighs the most.

Although many today are replaced by Chinese employees, BMW has counted up to 4,000 expatriates in China.

And it is still German business owners who run the European Chamber of Commerce in Beijing.

The latter expect gestures and no longer slogans hammered out by propaganda.

Chance of the calendar, the chancellor's arrival corresponds with the opening this Friday of the Shanghai Export Fair described by the state media as " 

".

Tired of waiting for the Chinese economy to comply with the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Europeans today want more than signs, particularly in terms of access to Chinese territory.

Three years after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, foreign companies like Chinese companies are still having difficulty sending their representatives to their factories.

Travel is constrained by health policy, while China has still not approved mRNA vaccines against Covid-19.

" 

,” but approval has been stalled for more than a year.

The vaccines have only been supplied to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, recalls the German ambassador, who hopes for greater cooperation with Beijing on this issue, in order to introduce foreign vaccines to the Chinese market.

►Also read: Chancellor Olaf Scholz in China, a highly criticized visit

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