…by Vladimir Terehov, … with New Eastern Outlook, Moscow
The seven golden domes of St. Petersburg
[ Editor’s note: We did not see much US media coverage of Merkel’s visit to China. I just learned that she was there for SIX days! That is a lot of face time indeed, and as Vladimir will share below, they had much to talk about.
During his earlier visit to Germany, President Xi Jinping brought Merkel a plum with his announcement of the planned new Silk Road, whose terminus would be Germany, a rather public coronation as to whom China sees as the most stable and the strongest power in Europe.
And with China moving into more overland Russian energy supplies, which can be defended by state of the art and relatively inexpensive ground to air missiles, a NATO attack on Russia becomes an indirect one on China.
A railroad system on the Silk Road would not only lower the prices of landed goods from China, but from the opposite way, and make US trade embargoes enforced by our Navy less of a concern.
If Europe wants to foment a conflict with Russia, which we see all of the signs of that happening, no Silk Road is going to be built to Europe. Chinese investors are already looking to greatly expand the Crimean shipping facilities, a sign that may be the first targeted terminus, with onward bound goods traveling by water to Southern European ports.
A new Silk Road project, along with all the energy pipelines and city building infrastructure included in the whole package, would probably be the biggest economic development of the 21st century. Anyone not involved will be left in their own shrinking dinghy.
Will the US back off its currency war Jiahd, or follow it through to its final conclusion?
Where do you think the US will fit into all this with our Navy being used in a new strategy of threatening China’s ocean trade and energy routes?
Add that to the boomerang-effect our brain dead, gun-slinging sanctions policy which has just kicked in the afterburner for everyone targeted to create, not only a basket of currencies as a new trading reserve, but to eliminate one country using it as a foreign policy weapon.
And last, we will see a new trade settlement system evolve in the East to pry the Western banksters fingers off the throats of its competitors in the East. It is only natural that they choose not to be servants of the West or exploited by them, despite the threat of American military power.
That will be countered by the other BRIC nations, each of which should be viewed as part of an unsinkable carrier battle group that can absorb anything and everything that the US military can throw at them, until we are all living in dug outs and shacks.
Germany’s China move is a first step in giving Europe a much closer trading potential with an economy that is growing, while Europe is stagnant and US declining in real terms. When we see Chinese being taught as a second language in European schools, we will know what their vote is… Jim W. Dean]
_______________________________
– First published …July 23, 2014 –
Angela Merkel in China with Chinese President Xi Jinping
German Chancellor Angela Merkel flew to China with an official visit from July 6 to 12. It was her seventh trip to the country since she took office as chancellor, with her previous visit taking place at the end of August 2012.
On this trip she met with her Chinese colleague Li Keqiang and Chinese President Xi Jinping. As was the case in 2012, Merkel’s latest visit was accompanied by an unprecedented diplomatic protocol.
In terms of its “splendor”, it could only rival the protocol surrounding the Chinese visit of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin which occurred two months prior.
It is important to note that China and Germany – the two countries that both play the part of the “engine” within the economic and political processes in their respective regions – have once again “synchronised watches” only three months after Merkel welcomed Xi Jinping during his European tour.
All of this underlines the long observed “special nature” of the relations between these two countries, especially at a time when there is a certain chill in the relations between Germany and its key military and political ally, the US. The same as two years ago, the bilateral negotiations centred on the issue of economic cooperation, various aspects of which were discussed during another session of a joint commission.
The special importance of this economic cooperation could also be seen in the members of the expansive delegation accompanying Angela Merkel, which primarily represented the German business circles.
China is Germany’s third largest trading partner globally, after the EU and the US, and its primary partner in the Asia Pacific Region. In turn, Germany occupies the undoubted top spot in China’s trade on the European continent. About one third of all trade between China and the EU is conducted with Germany.
Manufacturing agreements put on “Auto-“matic?
In 2013, the volume of trade between Germany and China reached $193 billion ($169 billion in 2011). This is more than double the volume of trade between China and Russia, but is significantly lower than China’s trade with the US and Japan (three times lower and one-and-a-half times, respectively).
As was the case two years ago, the parties concluded a number of important trading and economic cooperation agreements. In particular, Volkswagen will build two car manufacturing plants in China. China will also purchase 100 helicopters from the Franco-German company Airbus.
Cooperation between the two leading national airlines Lufthansa and Air China will be expanded. Earlier during Xi Jingping’s visit to Germany, an agreement was concluded to expand cooperation between the German car giants Daimler AG and BMW and Chinese car manufacturers.
Eurocopter in demand
The same as two years ago, one of the key issues that Merkel was resolving during the present visit consisted in encouraging Beijing to strengthen the positions currently occupied by the European currency, the Eurozone and, correspondingly, Germany’s leading position in Europe.
During negotiations with her colleague Li Keqiang, Merkel could not simply ignore a notable German sore spot – the topic of industrial espionage. Without specifying who she was addressing, Merkel voiced her opinion against this practice, “which is a mistaken path towards economic success”.
However, German counterintelligence did not see the need to keep up appearances. In an interview with the paper Welt am Sonntag, one of their spokespeople stated that “the Chinese technical intelligence employs around 100,000 specialists” and for an organisation this powerful, “German mid-sized businesses make an easy target”.
This seemed to be virtually the only moment that could somehow cast a shadow over the otherwise smooth visit. As was the case two years ago, Merkel was exceedingly cautious with any statements about “human rights violations” in China, even despite the rising tensions in Xinjiang and the corresponding pressure exerted from international human rights movements.
That being said, the visit’s overly public entourage (excessive for business talks) points to the fact that the bilateral meeting’s daily agenda greatly exceeded strictly financial and economic matters. Both country’s leaders also had their eyes on important aspects of the currently unfolding global political environment.
For China, establishing better relations with the EU countries and its leader Germany takes on a new importance amidst its global rivalry with the US, as well as their important ally, Japan. At the same time, the “special relationship” between Germany and China gives rise to mixed feelings in Europe.
On the one hand, Germany advances the interests of all EU countries in China. However, this also begs the question of whether this German leadership in the leading Asian country gives rise to the “Germanization” of the EU itself?
The two countries are equally happy with both the results of Angela Merkel’s latest visit to China, as well as the overall shape of their bilateral relations. An official spokesman of the Chinese government stated that the German-Chinese relations are “are at their best in history” and “are strongly underpinned by the pragmatic cooperation between the two economic heavyweights”.
The strengthening of relations between two nations occupying leading positions in opposite regions of the world has significance in the continuing process of drawing the global political map.
Vladimir Terekhov, leading research fellow at the Center for Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the Russian Institute of Strategic Research, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
Jim W. Dean was an active editor on VT from 2010-2022. He was involved in operations, development, and writing, plus an active schedule of TV and radio interviews.
We See The World From All Sides and Want YOU To Be Fully Informed
In fact, intentional disinformation is a disgraceful scourge in media today. So to assuage any possible errant incorrect information posted herein, we strongly encourage you to seek corroboration from other non-VT sources before forming an educated opinion.
Due to the nature of uncensored content posted by VT's fully independent international writers, VT cannot guarantee absolute validity. All content is owned by the author exclusively. Expressed opinions are NOT necessarily the views of VT, other authors, affiliates, advertisers, sponsors, partners, or technicians. Some content may be satirical in nature. All images are the full responsibility of the article author and NOT VT.
