Thread by @AMFChina

We need to talk about Germany - again. Today a highly problematic essay by former German Council on Foreign Relations @dgapev director @ESandschneider was published in @china_table. This daily briefing is widely read among German professionals /1

https://twitter.com/china_table/status/1377156215994601475?s=20

In his article Sandschneider criticises what he calls a 'moralising foreign policy'; 'double standards' in US and European China policy, which are supposedly driven by geopolitical or economic concerns; and suggests that tensions in the Taiwan Strait are provoked by the USG /2

He criticises western Magnitsky sanctions against Chinese officials for 'blocking dialogue channels' and calls for 'silent diplomacy'. Whilst labelling attempts to 'manage China's rise' a form of 'megalomania', he nevertheless considers western China policy a 'management task' /3

Whilst arguing against 'China-Bashing' Sandschneider calls for 'dialogue, negotiations, and perhaps also having to argue' with the 'country and its government'. I take issue with such naive calls for dialogue and cooperation. But that is not my main critique of his op-ed /4

As happens so often in the German-language discourse he only discusses German China policy in relation to US-China geopolitical rivalry. What I take issue with is that he doesn't address deep-seated structural problems in an increasingly dysfunctional Sino-German relationship /5

While he suggests that western governments 'perhaps also have to argue' with China I invite @ESandschneider to join me in debating the truly sorry state of German China policy. It's high time that we challenge the overly cozy elite consensus on China in Germany. Let me explain /6

For more than two decades German Chancellors, whether Kohl, Schroeder or Merkel have promoted the failed "change through trade" agenda. Nowhere in @ESandschneider's op-ed can we find even the mildest form of (self-)critique. That's not good enough /7

https://twitter.com/AMFChina/status/1330112529851412489?s=20

Successive German governments have effectively outsourced their China policy to the private sector. The Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business (APA) has advocated for corporate interests at the expense of other enlightened German national interests /8

https://twitter.com/AMFChina/status/1305414762122162176?s=20

As the spokesperson on foreign affairs for the SPD parliamentary group @NilsSchmid has rightly pointed out "(we) need a real foreign policy for #China - not just a business-oriented policy". Yet we hear nothing about this problem from @ESandschneider /9

https://twitter.com/NilsSchmid/status/1346377621060411397?s=20

And what about conflicts of interests of former German politicians? On 23 March Gabriel & Scharping wrote a similarly problematic op-ed in @handelsblatt. Benner @thorstenbenner is right when questioning Scharping's impartiality when it comes to China /10

https://twitter.com/thorstenbenner/status/1375705968294690816?s=20

Or take the soft-ball interview which former Minister for Economics and Energy Brigitte Zypries & now editor of DUB Unternehmen Magazin conducted with a Huawei-spokesperson. Where is the critical distance between corporate media and foreign business? /11
dub-magazin.de/digitalisierun…

Sandschneider also does not address the very real risks which Made in China 2025 poses for Germany's Industry 4.0. My interlocutors in the US are genuinely alarmed witnessing how Germany is sleep-walking into ever greater economic dependence on China /12 fdd.org/analysis/2020/…

Add to this the very real risks to German citizens who travel to China. The Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz @BfV_Bund sounded the alarm as early as 2019. I hope it won't take hostage diplomacy involving a German national for decision makers to wake up /13

https://twitter.com/dktatlow/status/1210238533610463232?s=20

I would also like to see @ESandschneider address the very real threats which the Chinese Communist Party poses to Hong Kong residents living in Germany. What shall the Federal Government do to mitigate such risks? What could be a good policy solution? /14 reuters.com/article/us-hon…

And what are @ESandschneider's views how #AcademicFreedom and #FreedomOfSpeech can be protected against the authoritarian overreach of the CCP? We also need to address this pressing problem. I hereby invite him to sign the new solidarity statement /15

https://twitter.com/AMFChina/status/1376904735513530369?s=20

Let me conclude. In any dysfunctional relationship - whether on the personal or state level - we need to first acknowledge the underlying structural and/or systemic problems. If we want to improve Sino-German relations we need to look at problems & challenges on *both* sides /End

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