Chinese Premier Li Qiang called for “de-risking” decisions to be taken by companies rather than governments during a trip to Germany that’s designed to stabilize ties with the European economic powerhouse.
“Enterprises have the most direct and acute sense of risks and they know how to avoid and handle them,” Li told representatives from about a dozen German companies in Berlin on Monday afternoon, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. “So, enterprises should be given back the leadership role in preventing risks.”
The Chinese premier added that risk prevention and cooperation are “not mutually exclusive,” according to the report.
Representatives from companies including Siemens Ltd, Volkswagen AG, Mercedes-Benz Group AG, BMW AG, Schaeffler AG, BASF SE, Covestro AG, Wacker Chemie AG, Merck KGaA, SAP and Allianz SE attended the meeting.
President Joe Biden and his European allies’ stated desire to “de-risk” from the Chinese economy has resulted in a push to strip China from high-tech supply chains with potential military applications. Western democracies have also increasingly been looking to “friend-shore” manufacturing since the pandemic and amid rising geopolitical tensions.
China doesn’t see the difference between “de-risking” and “decoupling,” with Foreign Minister Qin Gang saying at a press conference in Germany last month: “If the EU seeks to decouple from China in the name of de-risking, it will decouple from opportunities, cooperation, stability and development.”
Li has chosen German — one of Europe’s more pragmatic nations on the China risk — as the first stop of his inaugural overseas trip as premier. On Monday, he met with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier before dining with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the evening, ahead of the seventh China-Germany inter-governmental consultation on Tuesday.
His visit has raised concerns that Chinese officials will try to influence the final wording of Berlin’s updated China strategy, which is due to be presented at the beginning of next month.
China is stepping up efforts to engage business leaders from nations that Beijing is sparring with on everything from trade to Taiwan. President Xi Jinping last week told Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates that the foundation of bilateral ties between China and the US “lies among the people.”
Senior Communist Party leaders last month rolled out the red carpet for a slew of luminaries including the chief executive officers of Tesla Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., Elon Musk and Jamie Dimon, respectively. That engagement comes as foreign direct investment into China has plummeted, with investors pulling $30 billion out in the first quarter.
The Chinese premier will also head to France this week for talks with President Emmanuel Macron, according to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He could also have the opportunity to speak to US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in Paris, as both are scheduled to attend a development finance summit in the French capital this week.