Insights into a China that can be visited again: trip with the Economic Forum of the Social Democracy

China maintained its position as Germany’s largest trading partner last year, just ahead of the USA. At 253.1 billion euros, imports and exports were slightly higher than trade in goods with the USA (252.3 billion euros). The trip, which was organized by the Economic Forum of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) Germany, focused on China’s economy and our mutual trade relations.

However, I also wanted to connect to my time as a cultural and foreign policy expert and took a few more days to see more of the country and visit the Goethe Institutes in Beijing and Hong Kong.

MARKET FOR GERMAN CAR MANUFACTURERS IN CHINA

During our trip, we visited a Volkswagen research and development facility, among other things. It is hard to blame the Lower Saxony-based company for focusing on Chinese needs: China is a huge market for VW, accounting for 40 percent of total sales. Mercedes, but also the Volkswagen Group with Audi and BMW, continue to sell combustion engines there because there is a market for them. At the same time, Germany, Europe, is a large sales market for China – so there is a mutual economic dependency. China produces far more e-cars and solar modules than it needs in its own country and is dependent on other markets.

Group photo at the Chinese internet provider Tencent.

My impression on site was that German companies are not afraid of competition with Chinese market players as long as it is fair. This is not the case at the moment as far as the public sector is concerned. German companies complain that they are still excluded from public tenders. China has also bought the advantage of “owning” the entire supply chain – mines in Chile and Africa, processing in many countries around the world, acquisition and partial acquisition of infrastructure such as ports. This is a decisive disadvantage for Germans and Europeans, especially when it comes to accessing raw materials (which makes a genuine circular economy – cradle to cradle – all the more important for us). Despite all the differences in this or in the area of human rights and democracy, my approach is always to stay in contact. This is a key to mutual understanding and central for finding sustainable solutions to economic and political challenges and transformation requirements. China is facing these challenges as well as Germany and Europe.

CULTURAL EXCHANGE

Socially and culturally, I have noticed that many people in China speak good German in addition to English – at least in the areas that I got to know. This is certainly also a consequence of the Chinese market orientation. At the Goethe Institute Hong Kong, I was able to attend live German lessons in a playful way.

There is also a modern cultural scene and exciting museums, which the Chinese also use for their excursions. At the same time, we were also able to see the advances in AI. For example, a human-less self-driving kiosk in the 798 cultural district in Beijing sells ice cream and sweets (sse photo left). In Hong Kong, tradition meets modern art and architecture in the West Kowloon cultural district.

A personal highlight of the trip was that I could catch a glimpse of the Great Wall of China away from the tourist sites. It was also exciting to see that after the car boom at the end of the first decade of this century, when bicycles were pushed out of the city centers, wide bicycle lanes have now been built in the major cities we visited, Beijing, Hefei and Shenzhen, often bordered by tree-lined avenues. There are many rental bikes at every subway stop, which can be rented quickly and easily using the all-powerful WeChat app.

I believe we need to adapt even more intensively and quickly to the speed of innovation and transformation in China if we don’t want to become “Museum Europe”.

My visit at the  Goethe-Instituts in Beijing.

Please find here the report on the trip on the Social Democratic Economic Forum’s website (In German).