Thread by @Dom_Fraser

German Chancellor #Scholz is in #China today.

Here's a list of those unhappy about Scholz's China moves:

- much of the German govt
- the US
- the EU
- German intelligence
- small and medium businesses
- the German public

And those who are happy:

- China
- big conglomerates

As the US has been getting tougher on China, the EU is trying to find internal consensus, and the German govt is finalising its new China Strategy, Scholz decided to visit shortly after #20thCPCNationalCongress to open more doors for big business (oh, & talk about human rights).

Many big German businesses are already largely dependent on the Chinese market (e.g., around 50% of VW's global sales in 2021 were in China) and the German economy is highly enmeshed with that of China.

By Scholz apparently refusing to reduce dependencies (he prefers "diversification and economic resilience" to "decoupling"), many ask if Germany will be ready to impose sanctions should the unthinkable happen and China tries to forcefully (re)unify Taiwan.

I wrote about why Scholz's trip to Beijing and the rifts it lays bare within his own government, wirh the EU, and in the transatlantic partnership matter for #Australia.

lowyinstitute.org/the-interprete…

#auspol #AusPol2022