EU-China ties hinge on Germany’s political future as reign of Beijing ally Angela Merkel nears its end
- During her 15 years as German chancellor, Angela Merkel visited China 12 times to foster the relationship, but her legacy could suffer if an EU-China investment treaty is not secured
- The tide seems to be turning, with Huawei, Hong Kong’s national security law, trade and human rights abuses fraying EU ties with China
This is the third in a series of five articles analysing the potential for an EU-China investment treaty, looking at negotiating positions, sticking points and geopolitical tensions. You can read part one in the series here part two here, part four here and part five here.
For more than a decade, as China experienced a dramatic global ascent both economically and geopolitically, Beijing has counted on one person to ensure Europe’s overall amiability and thus avoid the sort of decline into hostility that has defined its relationship with Washington.
Angela Merkel, the long-term German chancellor and, by extension, the most influential voice in the European Union, remains China’s staunchest ally in the West, even as Beijing found itself increasingly alienated in recent months due to a slew of contentious issues involving Huawei, Hong Kong, Xinjiang and the coronavirus pandemic.
But as Merkel prepares to step down after next summer, the clock is ticking for Beijing – particularly in terms of securing a long-negotiated bilateral investment treaty with the EU that she has sponsored.
“She is a very powerful force behind this,” said Max Zenglein, chief economist at the Mercator Institute for China Studies (Merics) in Berlin. “You just have to see how many times she has been to China to foster the relationship, this was viewed as a very prominent legacy-building issue for her.”
EU leaders in 2020 hold a sharply different view of China than they did 15 years ago, when she assumed power.