Beijing, May 5 (Xue Lingqiao, Peng Dawei) Michael Schumann, president of the German Federal Association for Economic Development and Foreign Trade, said in an exclusive interview with Chinanews.com that the current China is open, friendly and full of vitality, and China's economy is still continuing to write success stories.

Focusing on the prospects of Sino-German cooperation and how to view "decoupling" and "de-risking", Michael Schumann recently gave an exclusive interview to Chinanews.com during the 3rd Sino-German Science and Technology Forum hosted by the European and American Alumni Association (Chinese Overseas Students Association) in Quanzhou, Fujian Province.

"When I came back this time, I saw a vibrant China." After coming to China again after more than three years, Schumann first talked about his personal feelings about returning to China. He said he had "felt very good" about experiencing China's openness and friendliness along the way.

In response to the "collapse theory" of some voices from the outside world singing about the decline of China's economy, Schumann clearly refuted it. He said that for nearly two decades, some media have been saying that China's economy is about to collapse, but this has not happened.

"What we're seeing is China's economic success story, which has maintained a clear coherence in many ways." Schumann said that China has made positive contributions to the global economy and world multipolarization. "I very much agree with the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind, and we need less confrontation and more cooperation."

On May 5, German Chancellor Scholz met with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Berlin. Scholz said that he is very much looking forward to the seventh round of German-Chinese government consultations in Germany. This is an important consultation, and as the host country, Germany is actively preparing and is willing to work with China to ensure positive results. Qin Gang said that as a country with important influence and an all-round strategic partner, strengthening dialogue and cooperation between China and Germany is conducive to injecting more stability, certainty and positive energy into the world. China looks forward to working with Germany to promote fruitful results in the consultations.

Speaking about the seventh round of government consultations to be held between the two countries, Schumann expressed high expectations and expected that it will inject new momentum into the development of bilateral relations.

"We look forward to this consultation with hope." He expressed his sincere hope that the consultations would enable the two countries to better understand each other. He stressed that although there may still be some differences between the two sides, the foundation of German-Chinese cooperation in the fields of economy, science and technology is solid, and "it is important to communicate with each other, not to blame each other." ”

Following the concept of "decoupling", "de-risking" has recently become a "hot word" when some European politicians talk about economic policies towards China. What do you think of the term "de-risking"? In this regard, Schumann bluntly said that in fact, many people in Brussels are also curious - what exactly is "de-risking" trying to express.

Schumann believes that improving the resilience of its own economy is not a bad thing, just as it is not a bad thing to have a certain dependence on other countries' economies, "Germany is a football powerhouse. The key to the success of a football team is that the players rely on each other because they can trust each other. This also applies to the international environment. When we are immersed in a globalized, internationalized, multipolar world and economic system, we are somewhat interdependent. ”

"Unfortunately, many of the current discussions around these issues are highly extreme, politicized and ideological." Schumann stressed that "decoupling" is clearly not in Germany's interests, "because protectionism is not in Germany's interests." Nor are we in favor of camp confrontation, because that is not in Germany's interest either. (End)