As soon as China's Spring Festival holiday ended, German Chancellor Mertz led a high-level economic delegation to visit China.
From this calculation, Mertz is the first foreign head of government to visit China in the Lunar Year of the Horse, and can be said to be "leading the way".
The last time a German leader visited China dates back to April 2024 when then-Prime Minister Scholz. Over the past two years, the world situation has undergone earth-shaking changes, and China-Germany relations are facing both new opportunities and new challenges.
German Chancellor Mertz is known for his tough style.
A trip to China that carries many expectations.
This visit to China is Mertz's first official visit to China after taking office as German Chancellor in May last year. The accompanying delegation has a luxurious lineup, including a large number of German political and business leaders. This shows that Mertz has high hopes for this visit and is eager to promote the realization of his strategic vision for China.
A "pragmatic journey" to solve development difficulties.
Economic and trade cooperation has always been the "ballast stone" of China-Germany relations and is also the core driving force of Merz's visit.
In recent years, Germany's economic growth momentum has been insufficient and faced with problems such as the weakening of traditional manufacturing advantages, lagging digital transformation, and high energy costs. Especially after Trump returned to the White House, he wildly wielded the tariff stick, which severely impacted German manufacturing exports such as automobiles and machinery, further exacerbating Germany's economic difficulties.
At the same time, the importance of the Chinese market has become increasingly prominent. According to public data from the German Federal Statistical Office, the total trade volume between China and Germany will reach 253 billion euros in 2025, a year-on-year increase of approximately 2.7%. China has once again replaced the United States as Germany's largest trading partner, playing a vital supporting role in Germany's economic recovery.
More importantly, China's rapid development in new energy, artificial intelligence and other fields is highly complementary to Germany's deep accumulation of high-end manufacturing and green technology, providing important opportunities for Germany's economic transformation.
Merz led the heads of leading companies such as Volkswagen and Siemens to visit China this time. The core goals are to stabilize the supply chain, expand the Chinese market, attract Chinese investment, and inject a "boost" into the German economy.
The German automobile industry relies on the Chinese market for about one-third of its sales.
A "positioning journey" to calibrate the direction of cooperation.
In recent years, influenced by the strategic game between China and the United States and changes in ideological trends within Europe, Germany has become increasingly tough on China, and the "de-risking" argument against China has damaged political mutual trust between the two sides to a certain extent.
In October last year, German Foreign Minister Walderfurt made inappropriate remarks on Taiwan-related issues, which once led to the temporary cancellation of his visit to China.
In order to stabilize bilateral relations, the Mertz government has taken a series of pragmatic diplomatic actions: on November 17, German Deputy Chancellor and Finance Minister Klingbeyer visited China; in late November, Mertz and Prime Minister Li Qiang met in Johannesburg when attending the G20 Summit; in early December, German Foreign Minister Waldful resumed his visit to China and had in-depth dialogue with the Chinese side, paving the way for Mertz's visit to China.
Therefore, another important goal of Merz's visit is to have face-to-face communication with Chinese high-level officials, recalibrate the positioning of Sino-German relations, promote Sino-German relations from fluctuation to stability, establish an interactive model with pragmatic cooperation as the main tone, and lay the foundation for further deepening cooperation between the two countries.
On January 22, Merz delivered a speech at the Davos Forum in Switzerland, pointing out that maintaining good cooperation with China is a key path for Germany to improve its economic competitiveness.
A "breakout journey" seeking independent development.
Currently, Trump is holding high the banner of "America First", imposing tariffs on European allies, exerting defense pressure, and even threatening to seize Greenland. A series of bullying behaviors accelerated Europe's strategic awakening.
As the largest economy in Europe, Germany is also clearly aware that it must get rid of its over-reliance on the United States in order to effectively protect its national interests.
This visit to China is a key measure for Mertz to achieve a strategic breakthrough. He wants to take advantage of China's development opportunities and international influence to enhance Germany's voice in Europe and even the global landscape.
In particular, Trump is likely to visit China in April this year. Mertz's visit at this time also hopes to seize the strategic initiative in the triangular relationship between China, the United States and Europe.
During this visit, in addition to economic and trade cooperation, Merz will also communicate with China on international and regional issues such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, so as to seek a peaceful and stable development environment for Germany and Europe.
The "two sides" of pragmatic cooperation.
Merz's visit sends a positive signal of pragmatic cooperation with China and is an important opportunity for the further deepening of Sino-German relations. However, it should be noted that this is not a signal that Germany is strategically moving closer to China.
As a conservative from the Christian Democratic Union, Mertz's political stance has a distinct conservative flavor and a hard-line tendency towards China. Coupled with the pressure from conservative forces such as the far-right Alternative for Germany, as well as the United States' continued coercion of Europe, Germany's overall attitude towards China is still "two-sided."
In late January, the German government announced a new energy vehicle subsidy plan totaling 3 billion euros, clearly including Chinese car companies and expressing its sincerity in cooperation with China.
But within a few days, German Foreign Minister Walder Fuhr once again publicly made unfriendly remarks against China in his speech in Singapore, declaring that "Germany will always stand with the United States, and its relationship with China will never be equidistance." He defined China as a "challenger to the rules-based international order," and hyped up ideological opposition.
From this point of view, the development of Sino-German relations is still affected by many factors and is highly complex. We should also view Mertz's visit dialectically.
Overall, Mertz's visit to China is an important attempt by Germany to seek a strategic breakthrough in the context of accelerating restructuring of the global order and increasing pressure on its own economy.
In the short term, Sino-German relations may usher in a wave of "Little Indian Spring". But in the long run, how to develop relations with China rationally and pragmatically will test the strategic vision and political wisdom of German leaders…
