o, every day counts for us and for our planet. global ideas is on its way to bring you more conservation. how do we make students greener? how can we protect habits? what to do with a bowl? our waste? we can make a difference by choosing smart new solutions. overstaying said in our ways global ideas, environmental series included $3000.00 on d, w, and online hamburg, germany's gateway to the world every day. giant ships duck here to serve europe's

greatest industrial power. they transport millions and millions of containments every year. almost one in 3 of them is either heading to china or coming in from a chinese port. in fact, china is germany's biggest trading on. and here in hamburg, the ties are so strong that a shipping line owned by china's government has bought a stake in this terminal. this is a story of how germany palm top aides economy on business with china and how it got closer than any of the western power to the leaders in beijing. only to wonder if all of this is a good idea. under president, she, jim pain, china has become a doc, had dictatorship, one that's challenging the power and values of the west. china is so not only the

valid being but also bit by bit ex warden and also red terry regime that is antagonistic against our believe and democracy and human rights. the u. s. is lining up the west to take his stand for democracy in a battle of the systems that will define these century. many one, germany to join there is going to be pressure from within the german population, from germany's major allies outside of europe. pushing germany towards a harder, a harder line, but is germany really prepared to raise school lace in a show, dan, china. now the new government here in berlin face is a choice a di. lemme should it keep following the money? or does it need to think again, my great hope is that we are moving toward a more, a greater strategic culture in this country. however, my great concern is,

is that that might not happen fast enough. in this video, we're going to find out how germany got so entangled with china. how the last few years have shown what a days there really dealing. and we'll examine whether the new team running germany really wants to make you stand. it's late at night in beijing, germany's new leda angler, michael, takes her 1st steps on chinese soil as chancellor way back in 2006. she gets all the fanfare befitting an important visitor. but little could she have known how important china would become for her. it's so interesting to watch the coverage of michael's 1st trip. you have to remember, she was a big change. she was a woman, she was a decade younger than the man she replaced image was fresh,

and at times the moon seen you kind of but now had a message that wasn't so welcome. she broke with tradition. i spoke openly about human rights. thinking about us, the mom mentioned to me, i think that we will keep talking about human rights in future meetings. there is a growing openness to talking about this, although there are still sure to be different views. it's important not to brush them under the carpet of it to talk about and often fall from them, but she wasn't looking for a fight. you could hear the optimism there in talking about a growing openness to talk about sensitive subjects. this was following a strategy that many in the west hoped would bear fruit in a speech to german business leaders in shanghai. during that same trip, she laid it out explicitly. there's no footage available, but we do have the transcript. we will not only follow the development of civil

society in china, but also use different forms of dialogue to try to develop it in a direction. that means more openness and more freedom that had germany expression for this idea, bundle 200 or change through trade. the idea that by engaging and trading with a regime like china, you can encourage it to open up holistically back here in berlin. medical soon put that to the test. in her 2nd year in power, she hosted the dalai lama in the chancellor's office. he's crossed a line for china. it sees the exile tibetan leader as a dangerous separate. the meeting would become a turning point. beijing reacted very strongly to this. they essentially froze dialogue with berlin for about 6 months. no, a barkin remembers his well. he covered the meeting as a reporter. now he's one of the top panelists on german china relations. so,

miracle want to send a signal about her support for human rights at the very beginning. but china reacted quite fiercely to that. and that led her to change her approach and it took a lot of effort to to get that get, get that relationship going again. this didn't mean magical, gave up on the issue of human rights altogether. some prominent chinese dissidence, like i way way would find sanctuary and germany. but there was no repeated de la lama meeting or anything like it. mackerel had found waging boundaries and didn't cross them again. and soon germany would need china more than ever before. in 2008, a financial crisis tour through the western world in europe,

whole nations teetered on the brink of bankruptcy. there was rage against the banks . the politicians, the system itself, fears were rampant that europe single currency, the euro could collapse. market was in the middle of this crisis. she used germany's economic power to keep the currency afloat that she needed help. with europe on its knees, mackerel needed a new source of growth. it was clear to her where to find it. china really acted as a cushion for the german economy at a time when other european economies were, were, have undergoing serious, serious economic hardship. chinese economy was much less affected by the financial crisis. it bounce back thought growing at rates. the west could only dream of. it

was pouring resources into infrastructure on a scale never seen before. and china had money to spend in europe to china also came to the aid of european countries like greece, that we're going through debt crises. china bought up the debt of, of european countries that were, that were really suffering during this crisis. china would go on to snap of assets like grief is huge. pay raise port, helping athens pay off some of its debt. for china, this was a fantastic deal, giving it a strategic cornerstone. it would later build around noon and back home in china. a rising middle class went shopping to europe at unities for german industry were clear. jain slight volkswagen already had a foot in the door. now was the time to push it open and michael did exactly that.

meetings with chinese leaders became platforms for deal making. catherine cuba, ashbrook leads, one of germany's most influential thing tanks. she would travel to china with large business delegation. the implicit goal was always to come home with the deal. she always felt like it was her obligation in terms of her own understanding of national interest. crucially, from berlin's perspective, all this was building up something precious trust. i think this did affect merit marriage, how miracle viewed china, china was there for germany, and china was there for europe during the europe crisis. and she, i don't think she's ever forgotten that politically and economically it was all systems go. and then hamburg, trade was booming in both directions. it soon became part of china's massive belt

and wrote infrastructure plan. for china, all these trading investment also had profound strategic meaning for the development of its own economy and technologies. if you think about the 3 biggest industry areas within the 3 lead business areas in germany, it's machine building. it's automotive and it's of course, climate technology, all of which china wanted. they wanted to kind of innovative capacity that germany can deliver in terms of its are indeed german universities and research bodies jumped on the bandwagon to. there was huge growth in partnerships in science and technology. medical's approach seem to be working at the gateway with china, was proving to be a one to drug helping to fix the euro crisis. teaching germany's economy to the most dynamic in the world. building trust, china for its part we all in what could possibly go wrong.

hong kong 2019 china's most global cities. descent into chaos. young hong kong is protesting, a new extradition or imposed by beijing. they would put their freedoms at risk, but the protests only seemed to strengthen beijing result. china tightened in control of the territory still further imposing an even more draconian national security. the phoebe kong covered the story for d. w. well that's the law is the one of the home home. we have lots of examples. politicians, the prosecution, people, all that is the kinds of erosion in history, which is something that mic hong kong retina, china,

these maybe the changes in the position of the national security. this added up to a clear break of the treaty commitment china made at hong kong handover from the u . k. back in 1997 for the government here in berlin. this was the chile development. it suggested that, that trust that it had been building up might be misplaced. and it through that whole idea of bundled to his handle that we heard about earlier. the idea that by engaging with china, you might encourage it to open up politically. well, all that was thrown into dat. in fact, the warning signs had been flashing for some time. that under president she, jim ping, china was becoming more powerful. more ambitious, and more ruthless. like in china's remote region of shame, jang,

where evidence emerged the mass oppression of the muslim minority concentration camps, forced labor re education. the u. s. has called it genocide in the south china sea bay. jing was turning remote reefs into militarized islands, trying to assert control of crucial shipping route and intimidate neighbors with their own territorial claims. chinese military is expanding dramatically with some new missile technologies, more advanced than the west, and a navy growing even bigger than america's. and for taiwan, these posed an existential threat. paging, ramped up emissions to probe the aerospace around the island stoking fears that is threat to take over by force might one day become a reality suppression concentration camps, expansionism threats a war. this wasn't the china that angle macro had been hoping for. but what about

the economic side of the relationship will even that is increasingly open to question. despite all this trade, german and other western companies, complaint that they don't get fair access to china's enormous market. nobody knows the problems better than york woodcock. he's the head of the e. u chamber of commerce in may. jane. the market excess that we hope for 20 years ago happened to some extent, but still a lot of areas are very much locked to you came out with a position paper in september that has a solid 430 pages of mine, 100 surgery recommendations to the chinese government, you can see the magnitude of the problem. then there's this subsidies dish down to chinese firms, many of which are owned by the state. creating a double whammy. it's impossible to compete with. and there's a constant fear for intellectual property where western firms do get

a foothold in china. they've often had to form joint ventures with chinese counterparts, which can leave their technologies open to transfer, or even theft. to pandemic, added new concerns. medical equipment shortages early on exposed germany's crippling dependency on chinese supply chains. perhaps the greatest fear for the german economy is about the big picture. i need machine builders are very quickly establishing themselves as the lead machine builders in the world. a sector that germany cornered for itself for over 70 years, china overtaking germany in this key, industrial sector for and for germany, is only a matter of time. ugly medical tried to tackle some of these problems near the end of her term in office. negotiating an investment deal between the european union and china,

the deal needed ratification in the european parliament. but before that could happen around about human rights blew it out of the water. anger in europe, hope for abuse his in. she jang let to use sanctions on a group of chinese officials. china reacted furiously with a much bigger round of sanctions in retaliation against various institutions and even members of the european parliament itself. the most prominent was that i not really cool for the german green who heads the parliament's delegation on china. i reckon china calculator, beth. oh, they might impress us with the sanction. in fact, the opposite pass happen, or i really oh feel that they have shot themselves in the foot of the results that we see in the european parliament to all stand tall and to defend

the values we believe in, namely human rights democracy, rule of law and much lateral listen. that result has only increased the europe. ian parliament refused to ratify the china deal while cometh its members were under sanctions. it all showed how hard it had become to engage with china on business and challenges on human rights. at the same time, ah, and the tale of huawei revealed germany's internal struggles in dealing with china . it was a decision facing many western government. should a tech giant from china be allowed to build the 5 g mobile networks in the future. kate, for this critical infrastructure to be billed by company, subject to chinese state power. definitely an important decision. but angle americans, government could not make up its mind. the business ministry was all in favor.

hallway has great technology and great prices. the foreign ministry said, wait a minute while wait is too close to the chinese government. this wouldn't be safe as such critical infrastructure. interior ministry also had to say, so d, germany's main tech security body. and here are the chances of it. they agonized about it all. there was a tendency to avoid making a decision for fear of alienating china. a reluctance by the chancellor re to really take a clear decision. all these institutions bounced a while way, question between each other for years. finally, parliament passed legislation that would at least provide a framework for making a decision. hey, let's break this down for a minute. it took germany years to decide how to decide whether to let hallway

build it's 5 g network is medically or came to an end for critics. it was symbolic of a strategy that was running out of steam. i think miracles approach failed to adapt to the changing face of china under seasoned team. i think she continued to prioritize shorter term economic interest over broader strategic interests. i think her approach was driven also by a sense of german and european weakness. in other words, a, a reluctance to speak out on values, issues to take policy decisions. for example, on 5 g that might alienate or offend china even if they were in a germany strategic interests. so what now can germany find

a new way of dealing with china? the answer to that could lie in a clash of personalities. right here in the heart of lynn. there's a new team in town. a 3 way coalition spanning all the way from the greens, through the center left social democrats to the free market. liberals bound by a message said they want to do things different. they say they want to come up with a new strategy on china. and they're under pressure to deliver. u. s. president joe biden has been appealing to democratic allies to join him and pushing back against china and other autocratic powers. framing the sierra as a kind of battle of the systems. it's an idea that shed by many and brussels china

is so not only developing but also bit by bit ext gordon, and also red terry regime that is antagonistic against our believe and democracy and human rights official. you documents acknowledge this idea, describing 3 aspects to relations with china, partnership, competition, and systemic rivalry. that has big implications. and that very same framing of systemic rivalry is right there in the coalition agreement. that underpins germany's new government to paper explicitly cools out, problems with china. it's the 1st of its kind to mention, tie one voicing support for its democracy. the paper also highlights the south china, see the status of hong kong human rights abuses in chin. jang fair competition rules. so all those issues that we looked at earlier,

a referenced by the new coalition. so is this a revolution in germany's approach to china? well, not so fast. the policy is one thing we need to take a closer look at the people now in charge of making it happen. most of all the chancellor will laugh schultz, the social democrat, and the foreign minister and alina bab, book, a green dare from different parties, different generations. and on china, they have very different records. remember hamburg deported the heart of germany's trading relationship with china? that's ola schultz, his city. he was, it's math for most of the last decade. during the very time when trade with china became its life blood. in a foreign policy debate, he strongly ruled out the idea of a total decoupling of germany's economy from china. i put in the,

i know funder was i'm, there's one thing i really want to confront had on i'm and fad a claim against any decoupling fair discrepancy that north america, europe and china each stick to themselves and develop all kinds of separate structures. it's a huge step forward. we have a global economy and event physician and victim the sun go so far as we paid the shaft hub. the thing if no serious voices are really calling for that kind of total decoupling that shows describes that this kind of rhetoric from schulte is being taken by many is a sign that what he really wants is more of the same old song stands for continuity . i think his, his view of china was shaped by his 7 years as mayor of humble. org. okay, so what about anna, lena babcock, foreign minister from greens. well, she's very different. like her party. she's been all about putting human rights 1st

. and she says, she really means that that's my, not my attitude to form policies that you campus you purely economic path. just saying nice things about how human rights are important. but then when it really comes down to it, not doing anything about it. and i'm not in a bad bach has talked about dialogue with toughness in describing her approach to try not she's called for lea a break in, in, in germany's approach so more outspoken on human rights. reducing economic dependencies on china. ok, so we have a head of government who doesn't want to rock the boat and we have a foreign minister who wants a tougher life. also in the makes a liberal finance minister who's pro human right. but close to the business community to this could get very complicated. remember all those ministries who

couldn't agree on fall way. does this new government mean more of that kind of thing? we could see as sort of coffee, any of discordant signals on china from this new government. one think the new government is clear on, it says it was his china strategy to match that of the you. and he wants both to be coordinated with the us. but it's notoriously complicated for the you to speak with one voice. can this really work? it's going to be very difficult because you have 20 member states and you're over half the life of sweeter than the tougher than hungry or reese, for example. and yet, polling shows that german public opinion is harming against china and the moved in parliament. the boldest tongue is also shifting in line with trends around the western world. this could open more scope for political debate ahead. not about

decoupling, but at least diversification. there's going to be pressure from within the bonus tag from within the, the german population from germany's major allies outside of europe. the united states, japan, australia, canada, pushing germany towards a harder, harder line. and pushing germany to change its tone, to speak out more on, on values, issues, and reevaluate its economic relationship with china, reduce its dependencies, come more resilient. what about bay gene? what does it want? this change of put there to she, jim pain is redesigning china's economic model. moving to more domestic focus and more state control. this could turn out to be the true decoupling masterminded not in washington, oberlin but bait g. it's huge with the 1st of all really,

china started becoming primarily on the internet side. now compet come on top of it, where basically you have an inward drifting china to maintain control over the economy and politics. you can see from the g 2019 of these leaders physically and talk and the one the missing is the president of china. and i guess i think that shows a little bit about how in summer china has become a dizzying paradox. with china becoming once more insular at home and more global in its am, bishop determined to take what it sees as its rightful place in the world on its own terms. the main thing that german politicians need to be now is they need to be honest with their electorate. because in order to create functional strategy and a strong position that's widely held among, he, actors and society. society needs to understand the different threats that emerge

for the different strategic and at least competitive energies that emerge from china. so the task that china presents to the west really is the test of democracy itself. wasn't that slow and messy decision making can come up with strategies that work. if you want to know the answer, what's germany the next few years? it has so much as stake that a can't afford to fail. ah ah ah, under pressure joe, by these 1st year in office in america good is back now he's being

evaluated against his promises. what has he been able to accomplish so far? how do americans feel about him today? an unflinching analysis of a still deeply divided country. that's not america. 15 minutes on d, w. o. people and trucks injured when trying to flee the city center. more and more refugees are being turned away and the border. families play involvement tags in theory to these critical illness with demonstrate people seeing extreme drought ross getting 200 people, his son from the agency around the world. more than 300000000

people are seeking refuge. yes, the wine because no one should have to flee. make up your own mind d. w. made for mines. ah ah ah, this is dw news live from.