Beijing hopes Germany will continue China-friendly approach after Armin Laschet wins Christian Democrat Union leadership race
- Long-term ally of Angela Merkel is considered a safe pair of hands who will continue Chancellor’s pragmatic policies
- Laschet is not guaranteed to take over the top job, but his victory eased Beijing’s concerns that EU will adopt a more confrontational approach
While the choice of the minister-president of North Rhine-Westphalia does not guarantee that he will be the centre-right’s candidate for chancellor at the election later this year, diplomatic observers in China said Beijing saw it as a promising indicator that Germany, and the European Union, would remain in safe hands amid its intensifying rivalry with the United States.
The 59-year-old’s victory eased Beijing’s concerns that Germany, China’s biggest trading partner in Europe, would abandon Merkel’s friendly posture towards China.
Merkel is a key advocate of engagement with China and is widely believed to be the key person behind an investment deal between European Union and China, a move that Beijing has hailed as the biggest diplomatic victory last year.
Laschet, a long-term Merkel ally, is “good news for China-Germany relations and China-Europe relations” as he is likely to follow Merkel’s pragmatic approach, said Ding Chun, director of the European Studies Centre at Fudan University in Shanghai.