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The apical European concern typical successful China downplayed concerns implicit Germany's economical reliance connected China arsenic German Chancellor Olaf Scholz makes his maiden in-person sojourn to Beijing.
President of the EU Chamber of Commerce successful China Joerg Wuttke told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" connected Friday that galore of Germany's imports from China are replaceable, erstwhile asked if the European state had go babelike connected China for galore of its goods.
He said, however, Germany needed to amended diversify its sourcing of captious materials from China, specified arsenic uncommon earths and pharmaceutical precursors, adding that the chancellor would request to person "very wide language" with Beijing astir these issues.
Experts mostly agreed with Wuttke but warned that Germany needed to measurement up its diversification from with China.
"Of course, you tin overgarment a benignant of representation that you're babelike connected Chinese furniture, toys, underpants, and possibly mobile phones and computers — but actually, that's not the case, you tin root it from elsewhere," Wuttke said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is visiting China and immoderate of his occidental counterparts are not blessed astir that, arguing Berlin needs to larn from his erstwhile adjacent links to Russia.
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"Where we're truly babelike connected is uncommon earths, pharmaceutical precursors … that's wherever we person to look into, but these are 20, 30 items retired of thousands of items."
"So the dependency treatment is wholly overblown, I would say, due to the fact that we tin really bash thing astir it."
Like immoderate commercialized relationship, moving with China is astir managing risks, Wuttke said.
"The hazard of not being successful China outweighs the hazard of being here. So successful a way, we person to negociate these risks. And we person to look into the areas wherever we're truly short," Wuttke said, adding that Germany had been managing them rather successfully truthful far.
"The marketplace is simply excessively large to neglect."
Wuttke besides said that dependencies betwixt Germany and China are mutual. China too, depended connected Germany for its exports.
Frederick Kliem, E.U. and planetary relations adept from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, mostly agreed with Wuttke's comments, fixed Wuttke's extended cognition of Germany's stakes successful China.
But helium acknowledged Germany does rely on China.
"Undoubtedly, Germany's dependence connected China is excessively large connected astatine slightest 3 levels: dependency connected the user market, connected China arsenic a accumulation base, and connected import of immoderate captious products, specified arsenic uncommon world elements," helium said.
"[But] hysteria is ne'er a bully argumentation guide. What needs to hap is not decoupling, abandoning economical interdependence, oregon adjacent signing onto immoderate signifier of containment policy."
He said Germany indispensable trim its dependency truthful that it is neither susceptible to blackmail by Beijing, nor incapable to instrumentality sanctions.
Former imperishable caput astatine Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bilahari Kausikan told CNBC that "the Germans person go implicit optimistic."
Scholz's sojourn to China this week has ruffled feathers successful Europe amid expanding governmental pressures for Germany to trim its reliance connected China.
The chancellor is visiting Beijing with a delegation of 12 cardinal German concern leaders for little than 24 hours.
In effect to the wide criticism, Scholz explained successful an op-ed for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Politico connected Thursday that helium would not question seek decoupling from China, but prosecute diversification and economical resilience
