Over the last decade, China and Germany have developed what Jonas Parello-Plesner and I called a “special relationship.” The basis for it was the growth of German exports, in particular automobiles and machinery, to China. This economic symbiosis led to an increasingly close political relationship – in particular, between Chancellor Angela Merkel and the former premier Wen Jiabao. They institutionalized the “special relationship” in the form of annual government-to-government consultations – in effect, joint cabinet meetings – which took place for the first time in 2011. The relationship between the two countries tightened against the background of the euro crisis …read more
Germany’s New Skepticism About China
