German chancellor rules out decoupling from China but calls for quality cooperation

euronews (in English)

The three-day visit of Germany's leader to China comes after Beijing slammed the EU as “reckless” following investigations into whether state subsidies are giving Chinese companies an unfair advantage.

Transcript

00:00 Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said he has no plans to decouple from China, but

00:07 demanded progress be made towards better market access for German companies to compete in

00:13 the world's second largest economy.

00:17 Scholz is on a three-day visit to China to press his case for a more level economic playing

00:22 field. His trip comes just days after he and France's President Emmanuel Macron called

00:28 for a rebalancing of trade relations with Europe.

00:34 China's President Xi Jinping said Germany should view and develop bilateral ties from

00:38 a long-term and strategic perspective.

00:46 Scholz's visit arguably comes at a difficult time. Just last week China slammed the EU

00:53 as reckless after it launched a string of investigations into state subsidies for Chinese

01:12 companies. This is all happening as China posts record economic growth.

01:19 "The first quarter of the year, the GDP was 29.6 trillion yuan. The growth rate was

01:26 5.3% compared to the previous quarter. The growth rate was 1.6% compared to the previous

01:33 quarter. The growth rate was 3.3% compared to the previous quarter. The growth rate was

01:40 6% compared to the previous quarter. The growth rate was 7.3% compared to the previous

01:47 quarter. The growth rate was 6% compared to the previous quarter. The growth rate

01:54 was 5% compared to the previous quarter."

01:54 That figure exceeds the 5% growth target set by China's Premier Li Qian in March, which

02:00 some analysts saw as ambitious. Those numbers are in stark contrast to the stumbling start

02:07 to the year for the EU.

02:11 The Commission's winter interim forecast, published in February, revised economic growth

02:16 for 2024 down to 0.9% in the EU and 0.8% in the Eurozone.

02:23 [WHOOSH]

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