Merkel’s biggest management mistake: illusory promises exceeded reality

Angela Merkel has made it clear that she will resign after the next election in the fall of 2021. Until then, she will have spent 16 years as Chancellor and will be on par with Helmut Kohl, who has written history textbooks to pave the way for German reunification. Merkel seeks to leave a trail no less impressive: the achievements of Germany’s relations with China. Merkel has visited China 12 times during her time as chancellor, an unprecedented number. However, the actions of both her and the Chinese Communist Party do not promise success.

There were widespread reports that Merkel wanted to leave the political scene after a major event, the EU-China summit in Leipzig. In this city she studied physics at the university in the mid-1970s, which was then called Karl Marx. Merkel has created hope for the signing of a historic investment agreement that will provide European companies with more investment opportunities in China. However, this was not meant to happen. Thanks to COVID-19, the event turned into a one-day virtual meeting.

A two-hour virtual summit, a televised press conference, provided significant information about Merkel’s approach to China. Merkel’s report lasted six minutes, while speeches on Hong Kong, minorities and human rights lasted only 10 seconds. Overall, the Stoic Chancellor was incomparably more encouraged when it comes to the increased opportunities to sell German wine and beer after the EU-China GI deal, which lasted half a minute.

It includes Already seen sensation. In the fall of 1997, Mr. Kohl had spent 15 years as Chancellor. Experts on the German political spectrum complained about the stifling intellectual inertia that embraced the country’s politics and society after Kohl’s continued rule. After 23 years, history began to repeat itself. Merkel, who has also spent 15 years as chancellor, appears to be experiencing a constant lag in political change and is coming under fire for doing so.

Not a day goes by without reports of genocide by the Chinese Communist Party. This should be very important in a country where the “never again” motive has become an obvious and widespread value. Hong Kong’s courageous democracy movement is being repressed through a so-called draconian national security law. Chinese President Xi Jinping threatens liberal democracy in Taiwan with military annexation. Yet despite clear evidence of authoritarian violence by the Chinese Communist Party, Merkel is not even committed to a cosmetic change in German mercantilist attitudes toward China.

The problem goes far beyond Merkel’s attitude. In an interview with Politico in mid-July, German Finance Minister Peter Altmaier reinforced the importance of Germany’s “change through trade” policy, saying: “I have always been convinced and still believe that change will take place. can be achieved through trade. ” To substantiate his claim, he recalled West Germany’s inclusive approach to East Germany.

The fact that the Soviet Union, which has lost its economic capacity, can hardly be compared with the powerful state capitalism of China, does not seem to have been significant for the Minister. However, Altmaier was previously the head of Merkel’s administration, so his approach is very important. In the same interview, he also dismissed criticism of Germany’s trade with the increasingly authoritarian China, saying: “We have trade relations with many regions of the world, including countries with different perceptions of civil liberties than Germany.”

Why is the German government taking so long to abandon Merkel’s failed trade policy changes? In the case of China, the German government has taken steps to promote foreign trade. In this area, the German government has allowed the private sector to lead, which explains the corporatist approach.

In this case, foreign policy changes through legislative measures are considerably hampered, as the German authorities have largely transferred foreign policy to the private sector. The transfer of foreign policy to the private sector also meant that corporate propaganda had always played an important role in German public discourse on China.

To justify trade and investment relations with authoritarian China, corporate lobbies have long hyped the importance of the Chinese market to the traditionally export-oriented German economy.

During their regular visits to China, key German politicians, including Mr. Kohl, another former chancellor, Gerhard Schröder and Merkel, provided the media with images of such a one-sided narrative. During their visits to Beijing by signing trade and investment agreements, they gave the impression that Germany is highly dependent on the Chinese market. Ironically, government statistics show that in 2018, China ranked only third (7.1%) in terms of total German exports, after the United States (8.7%) and Europe (68.5%). . As is often the case, the promises of the largely illusory Chinese market have overshadowed reality.

The German media often uncritically reinforced such corporate propaganda.

Foreign policy commentator Andreas Fulda says he recently discussed the issue with a German media specialist. During the conversation, it became clear to him that the thought of the crowd had contributed to this fruitless practice by journalists. Rather than challenge the dominant narratives, journalists too often used phrases like “Germany’s largest export market” in their China-related reports without any critical appraisal. As the aforementioned government statistics show, Europe is by far the most important export market for Germany.

Germany’s outdated policy towards China will only change if parliamentarians and other politicians consolidate the central role of the state and strengthen both the security of democracy and industrial policy. Didi Kirsten Tatlow of the German Foreign Affairs Council recently highlighted that “Europe can defend its interests by fighting misinformation, inspecting and diversifying supply chains, forming credible alliances, investigating foreign investment, clearly identifying sources of propaganda, strictly evaluating the activities of the United Front, banning Chinese technology. ” and take cybersecurity seriously. “It will take political will to follow such energetic advice, which is sadly lacking in Berlin today.

In addition, more effective regulation of corporate lobbying is needed. The public secret of German business policy is that politics and industry are firmly intertwined. For this reason, it is even more important to strengthen transparency and accountability, for example in the form of a lobbyist register in the German Parliament. If the conglomerates shape German foreign policy towards China, the public has a right to know who the authors of that policy are.

Academics and journalists should also make their contribution by squashing propaganda from both government and business, exaggerating the importance of the Chinese market to Germany’s export-oriented economy.

Finally, German citizens are also important, who must pay attention to Xi Jinping’s totalitarian actions in China and demand that the failed German changes in trade policy towards China come to an end.