German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's recent diplomatic efforts in China have been met with criticism and skepticism both domestically and internationally. Despite Scholz's attempts to strengthen ties and negotiate concessions with Chinese President Xi Jinping, his approach has been perceived as soft and ineffective, particularly in preparing Germany for the economic challenges posed by Chinese competition. This stance has also led to a divergence in foreign policy strategies between Germany and its traditional allies, including the United States and other EU countries. Critics argue that Scholz's policies reflect a broader weakness in Germany's foreign policy and highlight Europe's perceived unreliability and strategic unseriousness in the Indo-Pacific region. Additionally, the German government's crisis diplomacy at global hotspots, Germany's trade dependency on China, and Scholz's defense of a special relationship have further complicated the situation.
Scholz's fruitless trip to China demonstrates the weakness of German foreign policy German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hoped to extract concessions from Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to China, but his trip only demonstrated broader weaknesses in Berlin's foreign… https://t.co/RES4YDsHki
Viewed from the capitals of other Indo-Pacific partners, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s trip to China will simply be taken as evidence of Europe’s unreliability and strategic unseriousness, columnist @jamescrabtree writes. https://t.co/xHW6f7B3Dj
The chancellor had hoped to win concessions from President Xi — but his visit just highlighted broader foreign policy weaknesses ⬇️ https://t.co/iXES97jAR0
Germany's China strategy is not in sync with the US and not the rest of the EU. This is yet another case of a special relationship Scholz is trying to defend against the odds. My latest column in the New Statesman https://t.co/UqeqVQHvb5
Chinese Journalist Hu Xijin: From a Trade Perspective, #Germany Is Dependent on China – It Will Not Follow America's China Policy Too Far; Europe Should Not Decouple from #China https://t.co/D4luJBm391
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s soft approach to China does little to prepare Germany’s population and companies for the massive challenges to their own economic model that come with Chinese competition, columnist @jamescrabtree writes. https://t.co/xHW6f7B3Dj
The German chancellor and his foreign minister recently visited China and the Middle East and the government is conducting crisis diplomacy at all the global hotspots. But Berlin has failed to deliver much, and some are asking if Germany is even a global… https://t.co/l1ymR6uJO7