The German federal election is soon coming into sight and all the parties have declared who will be running for office of the Chancellor this September -- Annalena Baerbock from the Green Party and CDU President Armin Laschet from CDU/CSU. Since the slate of candidates was revealed, the media have been focusing on candidates’ personalities, their past achievements and policy agendas.

In terms of political advocacy, the Green Party remains true to what it was founded on forty years ago: protect the environment and halt the progress of climate change. The Greens are not convinced by Merkel’s China policy of ‘Wandel durch Handel’ (change through trade) and believe that while it is necessary to work with China on issues such as climate change, the link between trade and human rights should not be ignored. They advocate the political stand that goods made by forced labor in Xinjiang should be banned from the German market.

Laschet is considered to have a soft line on China, as protecting German export industry has been one of his biggest concerns. He has more elaborate policy goals when it comes to domestic affairs. Security is a prominent part of what Laschet has stressed. On the one hand, he lays the emphasis on the urgency to take action to stop climate change; on the other hand, he argues that climate policies should not hinder economic development. So, he is also concerned about how to strike a balance between the environment and advancement.

However, the nation’s China policy is still not given enough attention it deserves. Given the country’s close ties with and great dependence on China, the issue is more than a foreign or human rights policy, but one of domestic importance. In 2020, the volume of Sino-German trade (imports and exports combined) was an incredible amount of 212.6 billion euros. 36% of Daimler’s sales that comes from its Mercedes-Benz business in China is more than any source of revenue from any other country; 42% of Volkswagen’s production happens in China, including the Xinjiang area. Other German companies have invested a total of 84 billion euros in China; German companies are now operating almost 2,300 subsidiaries in China. China Logistics, a state-owned enterprise, has concluded a leasing contract for JadeWeserPort, the only deep-water container port in Germany, which is crucial in terms of military and economic concerns. Against the backdrop of CCP’s soaring influence and making a reach for private tech companies over the past decade, there have been 78 on-going projects within the country that have ties with companies like BGI and Tencent.

With a simple glance at the above figures, anyone can see China’s influence in the country is of domestic importance. These economic ties and cooperations are a form of legitimate seduction China adopts. It stems from a broader logic of economic interdependence—China seeks to cultivate foreign stakeholders that have an interest in good relations. Promoting trade and investment across the sectors, Beijing nurtures groups that benefit from that exchange and would lobby their own government to seek good ties with Beijing. Logically, political leaders will be convinced by elites in private sectors, and the government will then work to minimize disagreement with Beijing at the expense of national security and human rights. Greece’s behavior after a Chinese state-owned enterprise bought a large stake in its port is an obvious example.

Germany has to come up with better and more comprehensive China policy before its economic dependency deteriorates into a matter of national security. An example of that can be found in Australia where leasing agreement on its port and different ‘one belt one road’ projects are being reviewed. As Australia called a halt to several small infrastructure projects with China, the Chinese government expressed anger and made threats against it.

No matter who gets elected as the next Chancellor in Germany, he or she cannot stick to Merkel’s previous China policy, because the world has changed drastically over the last 15 years. Many other EU member states have changed their tune when it comes to China. In Germany, Beijing’s attempts to cultivate the support from those who have vested interests is powerful. It creates a chorus of voices in support of a closer alignment with China. Germany has to formulate its own policy and priorities in this regard. Pushing the problem at stake aside will not help but drive the country into worse dire straits.

(Glacier Kwong, born and raised in Hong Kong, became a digital rights and political activist at the age of 15. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Law and working on the course for Hong Kong in Germany. Her work has been published on Washington Post, TIME, etc.)

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