Germany finally fell in line with the United States and planned to take action against Huawei. However, Germany is also facing a dilemma: If it wants to “de-risk” China, can Germany’s poor economy withstand such a torment?
Recently, our Huawei has made the Chinese people proud. The independently developed Kirin 9000S chip is far ahead. The Chinese can finally compete with major international mobile phone manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung on their own. But as the saying goes, it is a mistake for Huawei to be too good. Not only are American politicians anxious and planning to further sanction Huawei, but Germany is also encouraged.
Germany’s Ministry of the Interior recently announced that by 2026, parts and equipment produced by Chinese companies such as Huawei and ZTE will be excluded from the core network, and Huawei’s 5G may be completely banned in key areas such as Berlin, the capital. As for the reason, it is nothing more than the same old story that the United States has repeatedly mentioned: Huawei is controlled by China and threatens security.
But this is not what Germany said before. During the Merkel administration three years ago, Germany did not make any special regulations for Huawei after conducting a series of inspections. It also declared that it would not follow the footsteps of the United Kingdom and the United States and exclude Huawei equipment from the Outside the 5G network.
The reason why the German government trusted Huawei before was because Huawei was indeed accused of “unfounded” charges. Germany’s Daily Mirror reported last month that agencies such as the German Security Office and the European Commission had gone through several A review in 2016 did not find any “backdoors” left in Huawei’s equipment for espionage.
Nowadays, China’s relations with the United States and Europe are becoming increasingly tense. Western countries continue to hype the “China threat theory” and describe China as a scourge. Against this background, Germany ultimately failed to stick to its stance of “seeking truth from facts.”
Germany chose to eliminate Huawei and ZTE to fill the vacancies of Chinese companies. It is very likely that European brands such as Sweden’s Ericsson and Finland’s Nokia will be used. Compared to China, those European countries are more trustworthy for Germany. Germany recently not only targeted Huawei, but also launched a countervailing investigation into China’s BYD electric vehicles. But is this really a good thing for Germany?
The trade volume between Germany and China is very high. If Germany wants to decouple from China step by step, China will certainly suffer losses, but “the effects of force are mutual”, and Germany will also feel very uncomfortable. And if we look at the German economy this year, we can see that Germany is actually not having an easy time now.
In the fourth quarter of last year, Germany’s economy declined instead of growing. In the first half of this year, Germany’s economy remained stagnant. The International Monetary Fund has said that this year’s economy will be difficult and everyone’s situation is not good, but Germany will likely become the only major economy in the world to experience economic contraction.
An important reason why Germany has become weak is that the relationship between Germany and other European countries has fallen out with Russia, and Russia has cut off natural gas in Europe. For a manufacturing powerhouse like Germany, its energy-intensive industries will suffer an unprecedented blow. Kuhlmann, CEO of a large German chemical company, said that Germany faces the risk of “deindustrialization”.
The “de-risking” of China has not yet been completed, but Germany itself is about to be “de-industrialized”. What is the reason that Germany is in such a mess? Isn’t it just because it follows the United States? It is not surprising that Germany followed the United States to impose sanctions on Russia and interfered in the affairs of other countries. It ended up being starved for nine meals in three days. Many Germans have opposed continuing to support Ukraine and hope to restore relations with Russia.
However, now the German government is still stubborn. Not only has it failed to comply with the voice of the people, but it plans to further damage its trade with China. It really does not have a long memory. If this continues, how long can Germany’s economy last? We’ll see.