Germany — burned by overrelying on Russian gas — now vows to end dependence on trade with China

Authored by businessinsider.com and submitted by BollocksAsBalls
image for Germany — burned by overrelying on Russian gas — now vows to end dependence on trade with China

German leaders said the country wants to move away from relying on trade with China.

Germany's dependence on Russian gas is sparking a rethink of Berlin's foreign policy.

China has been Germany's largest trading partner for six straight years, per official statistics.

Top editors give you the stories you want — delivered right to your inbox each weekday. Loading Something is loading. Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Germany is rethinking it's foreign policy — it has now vowed to move away from its dependence on China for trade, after being burned by overreliance on Russia for gas.

"We are doing away with the failings of an energy and trade policy that has led us into one-sided dependence on Russia and China, in particular," Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the told the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany's parliament, Reuters reported.

Germany, an industrial powerhouse and Europe's biggest economy, is reliant on piped natural gas from Russia which accounts for 35% of the country's fuel imports. But Russia has halted natural-gas flows via a major pipeline, causing an energy crisis in Germany and beyond.

Europe's largest economy has since been diversifying away from Russian natural gas by importing liquefied natural gas from other countries and is racing to build more essential infrastructure to hasten the shift.

It has also learnt a lesson from its Russia policy.

"The mistake of dependence as with Russia will not happen again," Scholz said separately at a Tuesday forum organized by Sueddeutsche Zeitung media outlet, per Reuters.

On Tuesday, Robert Habeck, the country's economic minister, told a news conference in Paris that Berlin is planning to cut its dependence on China and will limit investment support for German companies doing business in China, the AFP reported. In particular, Berlin is working on a new trade policy with China to cut dependence on Chinese raw materials, batteries, and semiconductor chips, Reuters reported in September.

This could prove challenging for Scholz's administration, as China has been Germany's largest trading partner for six straight years, according to Berlin's statistics office.

In October, German businesses pushed back against an economy ministry proposal aimed at curbing investment into China, Reuters reported.

"We can only warn against Germany turning away from China," said Markus Jerger, head of businesss alliance Mittelstand Association told Reuters at the time.

Dealan79 on November 24th, 2022 at 15:17 UTC »

This is both a good thing, and doesn't need to be seen as particularly antagonistic to China. Some people seem to be reading this as if Germany is looking to end trade with China instead of dependence on trade with China. The latter simply means that they are looking to diversify their supply chain so that no part of it is held as a Chinese monopoly. That's just sensible economic and foreign policy even with allies.

FM79SG on November 24th, 2022 at 10:28 UTC »

vows to end dependence on trade with China

I will believe it when I see it.

MrFancyPanzer on November 24th, 2022 at 09:01 UTC »

Remember thinking it was extremely dumb to rely on russian gas after they invaded Crimea, in case they tried to pressure the Germans in the future.