The conundrum of Germany’s business ties with China

ANNALENA BAERBOCK kicked off her first trip to China as Germany’s foreign minister in April with a visit to a production site of Flender. The firm makes parts for wind turbines in Tianjin, a coastal city around 130km south-east of Beijing. Ms Baerbock toured the facility for about an hour, all the while bombarding her hosts with questions, such as whether its suppliers are local.It is unusual for a foreign minister to tour a factory, but it shows the importance of business ties between Germany and China. The country is Germany’s biggest trade partner and an important destination for foreign investments in several industries that are the backbone of the . Yet as the value of trade increased for the seventh consecutive year in 2022, the bilateral deficit widened. German imports from China rose by a third compared with 2021 to €192bn ($202bn), whereas exports of German wares to China increased by only 3% to around €107bn.