Event reports
In his speech Dr. Röhr pointed out the importance of good relations of China as well as Germany with their respective neighbor countries due to their central position within Asia and Europe. Both countries are major export economies and highly depend on free and unhindered trade conditions. The good Sino-German relations can be marked by the beginning of Government Consultations in 2011, one of the closest political relations of two countries. Moreover the German Chancellor Angela Merkel already visited China 8 times as well as further two planned visits in 2016. For China good relations with the European countries and especially Germany can be an important counterbalance towards the United States. Therefore a united position of the European countries, has to be maintained. Dr. Rohr underlined that Germany is willing to work together with China on future regional projects like the One Belt One Road Initiative and is one of the founding members of the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
But aside from well-developed political and economic relations, there are still concerns within the German society about the “powerful friend”. People fear an overdependency on China in trade relations and are critical towards the massive Chinese Foreign Investment within Europe. In his closing remarks Dr. Röhr pointed out that the public perception is very unbalanced – the German image among Chinese people is widely regarded as very positive. These disparities have to be addressed in the future cooperation.
Due to the central position of China and Germany at the “heart” of Asia and Europe, and the good political and economic relations, Germany and China are also set to be good partners in addressing international challenges in the future.