Germany calls China a growing threat as it steps up focus on security (updated)

Baic Motor

14/06/2023 12:43

(Adds more quotes, background on China)
    By Sarah Marsh and Matthias Williams
       BERLIN, June 14 (Reuters) - China poses a growing threat
to global security, Germany said in its first national security
strategy on Wednesday, underscoring Berlin's shift in emphasis
from economic interests to geopolitics following Russia's
invasion of Ukraine.
    Using blunt language about its top trading partner, the
strategy document describes Beijing as aggressively claiming
supremacy in Asia and seeking to use its economic might to
achieve political goals.
    The document highlights the main threats Germany perceives
it faces, from climate change to supply chain disruptions, and
includes a few policy specifics, such as a commitment to raising
defence spending and creating an agency to fight cyberattacks. 
    Analysts noted it does not prioritise which threats to fight
or contain any major surprises. It also omits some major issues,
such as Taiwan.
    "This is a major change being carried out by us in Germany
in how we deal with security policy," moving from a military
strategy towards an integrated security concept, Chancellor Olaf
Scholz said at the presentation of the document, while adding a
more detailed China strategy should be ready soon.
    "In the future, we are going to think about security policy
more when we make economic policy decisions," Foreign Minister
Annalena Baerbock said. 
    "We paid twice or three times as much for every cubic meter
of Russian gas with our national security."
    Germany's reliance on Russia for around half its gas imports
prevented it from immediately being able to stop energy trade
with Moscow after it invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Russia
will remain the top threat to European peace for the
"foreseeable future", the National Security Strategy (NSS) said.
    The document highlights the need for Germany to reduce all 
dependencies on other countries for commodities and incentivise
companies to hold strategic reserves.
    These measures are particularly relevant now to Germany, and
Europe's reliance on China for critical minerals key to the
transition to a carbon neutral economy.
    "China is deliberately exerting its economic power to reach
political goals," reads the NSS, which comes just a week before
German-China government consultations are due in Berlin.
    
    'UNTHINKABLE'
    At nearly 300 billion euros ($325 billion) in imports and
exports, China is Germany's most important trading partner and a
core market for top German companies including Volkswagen
 VOWG_p.DE , BASF  BASFn.DE  and BMW  BMWG.DE .
    While that dependency has come under scrutiny, many German
CEOs have warned of the risks of cutting or reducing links with
the world's second-biggest economy.
    Mercedes-Benz  MBGn.DE  CEO Ola Kaellenius said in April
decoupling from China was "unthinkable for almost all of German
industry".
    However, many German businesses accept that dependency on
China for critical raw materials needs to be addressed.
    Baerbock said government officials had held "intensive
talks" with companies active in China. 
    "The good thing is that German companies are drawing similar
conclusions to the German federal government," she said.
    Still, Noah Barkin, an analyst with Rhodium Group, said the
strategy may be most interesting for what it does not contain.
    "There is no mention of Taiwan - probably the biggest
security challenge of the coming years," he said. 
    China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own
territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the
island under its control. Taiwan strongly objects to China’s
sovereignty claims and says only the island’s people can decide
their future.
    Norbert Roettgen of the opposition conservatives said the
strategy also lacked clarity on the creation of a new security
order for Europe, such as how Moldova and Georgia could be
shielded from Russia, and whether Ukraine should join NATO. 
    
    DEFENCE SPENDING PLEDGE
    Days after Russia's invasion, Scholz heralded a shift to a
new era or "Zeitenwende" in which he said Germany would invest
more than 2% of economic output on defence, after years of
resisting pleas from NATO allies to do so.
    The NSS contains a slightly weaker pledge for Germany to
spend 2% of economic output "as an average over a multi-year
period" on defence, initially in part by using a special
100-billion euro fund created last year.
    Germany aims to reach the 2% defence spending target from
next year, Finance Minister Christian Lindner said at the news
conference with Scholz and other ministers.
    This meant that budget consultations for the years through 
to 2029 would need to be worked out again and some projects
would be postponed.
    Germany had been too complacent in light of new threats,
including increasingly assertive authoritarian states such as
Russia and China in the decades of peace and prosperity
following the end of the Cold War, analysts said.
    "We have lived well on a peace dividend for a long time,"
said Lindner. "We must now move from the time of the peace
dividend to the time of freedom and peace investment."
    ($1 = 0.9223 euros)

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FACTBOX-Germany unveils first ever National Security Strategy   
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 (Additional reporting by Andreas Rinke, Miranda Murray, Rachel
More, Madeline Chambers and Christoph Steitz; Editing by Angus
MacSwan and Mark Potter)
 ((sarah.marsh@thomsonreuters.com; +49 30 220133621; Reuters
Messaging: sarah.marsh.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))