The meeting of the German foreign minister was highly anticipated Analena Bourbok with his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang after his recent visit Emmanuel Macron V China and his claims of Europe’s “strategic autonomy” vis-à-vis the US with respect to China.

Europe should not play the role of a “vassal” of the United States, he said, prompting a wave of reaction and a number of analyzes at the international level about the formation or even reorganization of the international geopolitical arena in the shadow of the war in Ukraine and in fear of a new conflict between China and Taiwan.

However, back on German “territory” and complicated Sino-German relations, the German foreign minister traveled to Beijing with two main requests, which she made to her Chinese counterpart:

First, she called for an immediate military de-escalation in the Taiwan Strait because, as she told her Chinese counterpart, a military conflict in the region would be a “terror scenario” for both China and Taiwan, and for the global economy as a whole. Secondly, Analena Bourbock asked the Chinese leadership to step up calls for Moscow to end the war in Ukraine as an aggressor country, effectively using its influence in the Kremlin.

However, this is the case of Analena Burbock, she has been outspokenly harsh criticism of Beijing many times, and also asked for a stricter treatment from the German government, recalled how the EU, as well as the current German Social Democrat-Green-Liberal coalition government, see China: “as a partner, competitor and systemic adversary.”

93 Social Democrats Say No to Anti-China Strategy

However, at the same time, while the Greens’ foreign ministry is still in China, there is a strong reaction within Germany from the conservative wing of the Social Democrats.

In a position paper published in the journal Der Spiegel, 93 Social Democratic deputies from the so-called “Sickheimer circle” – one of the three main historical subgroups within the Social Democratic Party – call for a more coordinated and realistic policy towards China, according to in fact, directly criticizing the position of Analena Burbock, as well as Vice-Chancellor Robert Hambek.

As they note, the volume of Sino-German trade of 250 billion euros per year is four times the volume of trade with Russia before the start of the war in Ukraine.

“A sudden cessation of trade relations with China would be an economic disaster,” the Social Democratic MPs warn. “Therefore, a coherent strategy towards China should not be an “anti-China” strategy,” they note in Spiegel.

Different co-management trends for China

However, the head of the European Affairs Committee in the German parliament from the Greens, Anton Hofreiter, offered to support Burbock’s position on China, recalling in an interview with the German radio station DLF that Germany should not repeat the mistakes with China that it made with Russia.

He even urges the coalition parties to take a common line of policy towards China, given that, as has long been clear, the Greens and liberals want more political and economic independence from Beijing. However, circles within the Social Democracy, like the Chancellery, seem to take a more moderate and aloof position.