Zhou Chao
According to a recent report from Xinhua News Agency, the latest statistics from the German central bank show that in the first half of 2024, Germany’s investment in China reached a record high of EUR 7.3 billion. Coincidentally, Germany’s investment in China also set a year-on-year record high in 2023. As of August this year, Western countries, including Germany, have been implementing a “de-risking strategy” toward China for over two years. However, the continuous rise in German investment in China seems to contradict such a strategy, leading some to see that Germany is still reliant on China, and there will be no substantial change in this dependency.
Among major Western nations, Germany is among the earliest to expand economic and trade relations with China, investing the most and having the most in-depth cooperation. The potential cost of abruptly severing or significantly reducing these ties would be extremely high. Recently, the Mercedes-Benz Group announced it would further increase its investment in China and continue to deepen its presence in the Chinese market, which seems to be at odds with the notion of Germany’s de-risking efforts. However, to conclude that Germany and the entire EU’s de-risking strategy toward China is ineffective based solely on the notable increase in German investment may be overly simplistic.
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