Germany has taken small steps.
On September 26th, it was revealed that the EU would launch a total of 20 "anti-dumping investigations" against China in different fields in order to protect "local industries".
The German deputy prime minister and finance minister also applauded for the first time.
You know, in 2018, German-China relations were still quite good. Dozens of China-Europe trains shuttle here every week, and some jobs are even directly linked to China's cooperation.
But no one expected that the cooperation agreement would expire four years later, and the relevant news of official website would be quietly deleted.
Beyond Duisburg, the city of Kiel suspended the friendship with Qingdao's city plans, and Düsseldorf stopped hosting the "Chinese Festival" for 12 years to convert to the "Japan Festival".
Interacting with the central-German cities that used to be hot-net during Merkel's period, why do you suddenly press the "slowdown" button?
From pro-China benchmarking to cooling cooperation, the contrast of German cities
The transformation of Duisburg is a shortcut of the central-German city cooperation to reduce the heat.
In 2019, the China-European ferry cargo volume accounted for 40% of China-German total, and Chinese enterprises invested in the local logistics and warehousing industry to create more than 20,000 jobs, and even the German media felt that Duisburg's railways were leading to the Chinese market.
But in 2022, after the "smart city" agreement with Huawei expires, the reason given by the city hall is to wait for unified guidance from the federal government and the European Union. In fact, it is Europe's concerns about China's position on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Even the digital transformation of urban traffic lights has been tied to geopolitics.
Kiel's operation was even more hasty.
In 2023, this German naval base city was supposed to deepen sister city cooperation with Qingdao, involving maritime trade and ship technology exchanges.
But Mayor Ulrich Tovar suddenly announced the suspension plan The reason is that citizens are concerned about safety.
Later, some media disclosed that the municipal government did not even consult professional institutions, labeling the cooperation as a "risk" just because Qingdao is an important city for China Navy.
The "China Festival" in Dusseldorf used to be the pride of local Chinese. It has been held for 12 consecutive years, attracting more than 100,000 people to participate every year. Lion dance, calligraphy exhibition and Chinese medicine experience can always gather popularity.
But in 2023, the City Hall suddenly suspended its operations and instead held the "Japan Festival". Although it explained that it was a "enrichment" form of activity, everyone knew that this was just an excuse.
Today’s warming is more reminiscent of the golden cooperation of Merkel’s time.
The German "Iron Daughter" has been in power for 16 years, and has visited China several times, in addition to Beijing and Shanghai, but also specifically went to the non-first-line cities of Chongqing and Shenyang.
In 2015, she said when she visited the joint venture project between Jiangxi Automobile and Volkswagen, German cities should not only look at China’s major cities, with opportunities for cooperation across every industry chain.
This phrase became the "key to breakdown" of central-German city cooperation.
In 1982, Duisburg joined Wuhan, but over the years only signing ceremonies and new year greetings on paper interacted.
It was not until Merkel's impetus that more than 100 cities in Germany became sister cities with China that cooperation moved from retreat to pragmatism.
In 2021, Sino-German trade volume will reach 245.5 billion euros, accounting for 10% of Germany's GDP. Volkswagen and BMW's sales in China both account for more than 30%. Even the calligraphy exhibition and traditional Chinese medicine experience classes at the Confucius Institute in Berlin must be long in advance. Make an appointment to get a place.
Unfortunately, with Merkel’s resignation in 2021, the direction of cooperation in the central-German cities has quietly changed.
In July 2023, the German government released its first "China Strategy". For the first time, China is defined as a mixture of partners, competitors, and systematic opponents, and "risk removal" has become the core keyword.
This document does not directly ask local governments to terminate cooperation, but it adds the shackles of security review to all interactions.
The impact of policy quickly reached the grassroots level.
When Duisburg did not renew Huawei, the surface said "other guidance", in fact, the federal government's confidence in Chinese enterprises was heated.
More obvious is the situation of Confucius College, in 2021, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research demanded the closure of all Confucius Colleges, and the University of Hamburg was the first to cut off the cooperation, so that Confucius College moved out of the campus.
Although the reason is to "review" China's influence, everyone knows that this is an extension of "de-risking" in the cultural field.
After Merz came to power, this contradiction became more prominent.
In 2024, when he convened more than 200 envoys abroad, he said that he would seek cooperation with China, but at the same time emphasized reducing dependence on China.
Of course it was so pleasant to cooperate, why did Germany turn around?
In fact, Germany’s current policy towards China is not the result of nothing but the result of more than half a century of political evolution.
In the 1960s, the Brant government introduced the New Eastern Policy. The core is to "promote transformation through proximity" and strive for a safety buffer zone for Germany and Germany by easing relations with the Soviet and Eastern bloc.
At that time, the policy was essentially self-deconstruction, not prompting the other party to change.
However, after the end of the Cold War, this policy was transformed into "promoting change through trade" and became a tool for Germany's strategy towards China. On the surface, it is doing business, and behind it, it wants to promote change in China through trade.
The relationship between China and Germany was established in 1972 and, in fact, the U.S. attitude cannot be separated.
In 1964, the Erhard government secretly negotiated a trade agreement with China in Switzerland, but failed due to U.S. opposition. It was not until the Nixon administration relaxed its policy towards China that Germany dared to sign the communiqué on the establishment of diplomatic relations.
In 2023, German Foreign Minister Belbeck bluntly said that the past idea of promoting change in the other side through trade is now outdated.
This sentence acknowledges the failure of "promoting change through trade", but does not reflect on the policy itself. It binds economic cooperation with ideology, which violates the essence of mutual benefit and win-win results.
Thus, in the intersection of “risk taking” and seeking cooperation, the green area has gradually become a safe zone for cooperation in central-German cities.
There are no geopolitical disputes here, only common needs under the goal of "carbon neutrality".
The cooperation between Kunming and Regensburg, Germany has become a model of ecological governance.
Kunming has spent ten years treating Dianchi Lake, and through pollution interception and ecological restoration, it has turned the once polluted lake into an ecological lake with water quality up to standard.
Regensburg is facing pollution problems in tributaries of the Danube River and has taken the initiative to learn from Kunming's experience. In 2025, it will also send a delegation to Kunming for inspection, and the two sides signed a technical exchange agreement on river basin governance.
Not only that, the passive housing of Qingdao Central German Ecological Park has also become a landmark for green buildings.
This kind of house does not require air conditioning and heating. It relies on natural ventilation and insulation materials to maintain a comfortable temperature of 20-26 ° C. It will also win the Global Green Building Award in 2025.
Cities such as Munich and Hamburg organized groups to inspect and plan to introduce this set of technical standards to Germany. After all, Europe's "carbon neutrality" goal is imminent. China's green building experience can help Germany save a lot of emission reduction costs.
These cases prove that when cooperation focuses on areas of low sensitivity and high compatibility, Chinese and German cities can still find win-win space.
Future cooperation may no longer "blossom in an all-round way", but as long as the core needs of green, technology and people's livelihood are accurately connected, complementarity will not be concealed by risk labels.
conclusion
From the "smart city" blueprint in 2018, to the termination of cooperation in 2022, and then to the green transformation of China-Europe trains in 2025, the interaction between German cities and China is actually a microcosm of the global order adjustment period.
The federal government's "de-risk" policy tries to find a safe boundary in cooperation, but ignores the complementarity of Sino-German economic and trade and the relevance of industrial chains.
Germany needs China’s market and resources, China needs Germany’s technology and experience, and “disconnection” is not in the interests of either side.
This "silent farewell" is not the end after all, but as long as the ties of the industrial chain are still there and the demand for common development is still there, the two sides will eventually join hands again on the new track.