“It would be a gross misunderstanding to think that it was the intention of this government [to want to reduce trade with China]. We want to further expand trade with China, taking into account the need for de-risking and diversification,” said a German government official.
The more you trade with China, the more "risk" (if China were belligerent) there will be. You cannot both increase the volume of trade and de-risk, unless you reduce trade in critical components and increase trade volume in say, consumer goods. I am not seeing anything about such a strategy, or really, any strategy at all. I don't know if it's just because the articles ain't saying shit, or the Germans just have no plan whatsoever. And even when it comes to trade in consumer goods, the Germans were complaining about solar panels and EVs, 2 sectors where you can easily increase trade volume without risking your economy.
It really is. The sheer stupidity and mediocrity displayed by our politicians is mind boggling, and this even goes for those ones who don't act like they were seemingly manufactured in an American NGO's lab to do nothing but be rabid Atlanticists and lick Washington's boots.
If you're in German politics you either are a complete ghoul who enthusiastically supports Germany's total economic ruin and subjugation to US diktat, or you were only allowed to get to where you are because you are too naive and provincial to understand how the world works. Possibly the former are also masquerading as the latter.
At least now i understand how the Japanese must have felt when the US permanently kneecapped their economy with the Plaza Accord in the 1980s. Although i have to assume that it wasn't quite as obvious back then what the US was doing and the effect it would have, because how the fuck would any self-respecting country just knowingly allow something like this to be done to it?
I think what they could mean is that they want to reduce their industries' supply chain reliance on China and at the same time selling more of their shit to Chinese customers which outside of their fantasy neoliberal dreamscape is not possible. They know this too which is why they dress it with jargon like "de-risking" so that the average reader does not catch on to their bullshit.
The more you trade with China, the more "risk" (if China were belligerent) there will be. You cannot both increase the volume of trade and de-risk, unless you reduce trade in critical components and increase trade volume in say, consumer goods. I am not seeing anything about such a strategy, or really, any strategy at all. I don't know if it's just because the articles ain't saying shit, or the Germans just have no plan whatsoever. And even when it comes to trade in consumer goods, the Germans were complaining about solar panels and EVs, 2 sectors where you can easily increase trade volume without risking your economy.
it's such a clown show in Germany right now
It really is. The sheer stupidity and mediocrity displayed by our politicians is mind boggling, and this even goes for those ones who don't act like they were seemingly manufactured in an American NGO's lab to do nothing but be rabid Atlanticists and lick Washington's boots.
If you're in German politics you either are a complete ghoul who enthusiastically supports Germany's total economic ruin and subjugation to US diktat, or you were only allowed to get to where you are because you are too naive and provincial to understand how the world works. Possibly the former are also masquerading as the latter.
At least now i understand how the Japanese must have felt when the US permanently kneecapped their economy with the Plaza Accord in the 1980s. Although i have to assume that it wasn't quite as obvious back then what the US was doing and the effect it would have, because how the fuck would any self-respecting country just knowingly allow something like this to be done to it?
It's a good analogy, and completely agree that this time around it's very obvious from the start what's happening.
It's almost like they know all their fearmongering about China is bullshit or something...
I think what they could mean is that they want to reduce their industries' supply chain reliance on China and at the same time selling more of their shit to Chinese customers which outside of their fantasy neoliberal dreamscape is not possible. They know this too which is why they dress it with jargon like "de-risking" so that the average reader does not catch on to their bullshit.