Tag Archives: China

Germans Thinking About Reducing Their Dependency On China

September 9, 2022 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Why on earth for? It worked great with Russia.

German economy ministry reviews measures to curb China business – Germany’s economy ministry is considering a raft of measures to make business with China less attractive as it seeks to reduce its dependency on Asia’s economic superpower, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The measures could include reducing or even scrapping investment and export guarantees for China and no longer promoting trade fairs and manager training there, those people said. Loans from state lender KfW could be re-directed to projects in other Asian countries, such as Indonesia, in line with attempts to diversify trade and increase business with democracies.

German Of The Day: Ausladung

October 29, 2021 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Higher Education, Hostility, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means disinvitation.

German Academic Freedom Is Now Decided in Beijing – German universities are bowing to China on censorship.

The two German journalists Stefan Aust and Adrian Geiges were disinvited from giving public talks at the German Confucius Institute about their new biography of China’s president, Xi Jinping: The Most Powerful Man in the World. The disinvitation came at the behest of the Chinese consul general in Düsseldorf. Aust told the German newspaper Die Welt that an institute staffer informed the journalists that “you cannot talk about Xi Jinping as a normal person, he is supposed to be untouchable and unmentionable now.”

This Could Mean War

September 17, 2021 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

If China won’t let a German warship into one of their harbors who else is going to fix it over there? They may have to blast their way in.

China denies German warship entry into harbor, Berlin says – China has denied a German warship on a mission to the contested South China Sea entry into a harbor, a German Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday.

The ship involved is the frigate Bayern, the spokesperson told a news briefing, but did not identify the Chinese harbor. The vessel set sail from Germany last month for a six-month mission to the South China Sea.

“China has decided that it does not want a harbor visit, and we took notice of that.”

But Who Is Going To Tow It Back?

August 3, 2021 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Humility Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

It won’t be China. German warships usually go kaputt, you know. And the German Navy doesn’t really, well, exist.

Although if the Germans ask the Chinese really nicely…

German warship ‘Bayern’ heads to the Indo-Pacific – The German navy’s frigate “Bayern” set sail on Monday for the Indo-Pacific region, fully loaded with Berlin’s aspirations to play a small role in the geopolitical standoff between China and the West.

The first such deployment in almost 20 years is meant to uphold freedom of navigation in international waters, protect “open societies” and express support for regional partners sharing Germany’s values, Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer was quoted as saying in a statement.

Electric Cars Made In Germany

July 13, 2021 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Shanghai, Germany.

Tesla is expected to start European deliveries of its China-built Model Y SUVs in a few weeks.

The first vehicles will be handed over to customers in Germany in August, the German news agency dpa reported, citing an official Tesla communication.

The vehicles will be exported from Tesla’s factory in Shanghai.

Tesla originally planned to start production of the Model Y in July at its new European factory in Gruenheide near Berlin, with deliveries scheduled to begin in the third quarter, but the plant’s production start has been delayed to the end of this year or early next year.

German Of The Day: Politologe

July 7, 2021 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means political scientist.

Or in this case, Chinese spy.

A retired German political scientist has been charged with spying for China for almost a decade, using the political contacts he developed while working for a think tank, the German federal prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday.

It said the man, identified as Klaus L. according to German reporting custom, had been recruited during a lecture trip to Shanghai in 2010, almost 10 years after joining the think tank, and had regularly passed on information until November 2019, in return for money and trips to China.

Wirecard?

April 19, 2021 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Sounds vaguely familiar. Very vaguely. No, come to think of it, never heard of Wirecard.

It was an innocuous question, posed shortly before midnight some nine hours into an exhausting parliamentary hearing into the Wirecard scandal. “Did you ever actually own Wirecard shares?”

MPs will want to know why Merkel lobbied for Wirecard in China when reports about suspected fraud at the company had been in the public domain for months. Scholz will be asked to explain how BaFin, the financial regulator he oversees, not only failed to uncover the Wirecard fraud but went after short-sellers and Financial Times journalists who first highlighted irregularities at the company.

But China Is Germany’s Friend

February 24, 2021 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Humility, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

And can do no wrong. And friends don’t intimidate Hong Kong activists on other friend’s soil.

China

And all that.

China has tried to intimidate Hong Kong residents living in Germany since pro-democracy protests broke out in the city two years ago, the German interior ministry said in a letter to a lawmaker published on Tuesday.

The letter, sent to the head of parliament’s human rights committee, Gyde Jensen, in response to a request for information on the subject, could add to pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel to take a firmer line toward China over human rights.

“Since the start of the protests in Hong Kong, increasing attempts by Chinese state actors in Germany to influence public opinion in favour of the Chinese government as well as actions against supporters of the protests have been identified,” the ministry said in the letter, first published in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and reviewed on Tuesday by Reuters.

“I am unfortunately sceptical that the mechanisms used by our security agencies are sufficient to effectively protect those affected.”

PS: By the way, there is no Chinese virus in Germany either. There is a “British mutation” of the Chinese virus that came from China but isn’t a Chinese virus but there is no Chinese virus per se.

 

How Stunning And Brave

January 26, 2021 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

To pretend you would stand up to China when it comes to trade. Even if it was just for a few media moments like that.

China

Impressive. Not. As usual.

Experts Demand Suspension of EU-China Investment Deal – More than a hundred experts are demanding an end to the EU-China investment agreement, DER SPIEGEL has learned. They name serious human rights violations and the suppression of democracy movements in China as the reasons.

“Despite evidence of ethnic cleansing, forced labor, and other gross human rights violations, the leadership of the European institutions have chosen to sign an agreement which exacts no meaningful commitments from the Chinese government to guarantee an end to crimes against humanity or slavery.”

 

German Navy Threatening China

January 25, 2021 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Humor Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

And the Chinese are threatening to laugh themselves silly.

Frigate

No one was available to explain just how the German frigate will be towed to Japan, however. Or who will do it.

Germany to send naval frigate to Japan with eye on China – Berlin wary of Beijing’s expansionism but seeks decoupling of politics and trade.

“We must not allow them to rely on strength to impose their own order.”