Germany and EU need to reduce dependence on China, health minister says

Jens Spahn gives the example of an overreliance on imports, such as face masks and medical precursors

He calls for more discussion on how to ‘at least become a bit less dependent on China again in the 2020s’

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Acting German Health Minister Jens Spahn says the pandemic has increased the country’s dependence on China. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:51pm, 17 Nov 2021Updated: 6:51pm, 17 Nov 2021

Germany needs a more open discussion on how it can reduce its overreliance on China in many areas as the Covid-19 pandemic has increased its economic dependency on Asia’s resurgent giant, acting Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Wednesday.

“We have experienced and had to experience how dependent we have become on China,” Spahn said at an economic conference organised by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily.

“This alone would be worth discussing on an economic summit on its own, the question of how we can at least become a bit less dependent on China again in the 2020s,” Spahn added.

Spahn, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, said that Germany was too dependent, for example, on imports from China in areas such as face masks and medical precursors. It should also do more to diversify its export markets.

“Is this a good thing to have such a high degree of dependency? I think the answer is no. You can’t solve this in a few years, it’s a challenge for a decade,” Spahn said.

Germany and the European Union should reduce their overreliance on China by sealing and finalising more trade deals with other countries and regions such as Canada, he said.

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