While German-Chinese trade and investment relations are still expanding, 2016 was also a year of strong reappraisal by Germany. Germany’s economic circles have become wary as enthusiasm in China for economic reform is tapering off; opportunities for foreign firms have been removed one by one. The lack of reciprocity and the risk of seeing Germany’s technology siphoned off by China have already had an impact on the thinking in government and large companies in Germany. This has triggered a change in Berlin’s tone and dealings with China. The quality of this change is remarkable because for many years German-Chinese economic relations were thought to have no way to go but further upward. Today, this relationship has seemed to enter a period of unknown stormy waters precisely when the Trump factor adds volatility to China’s relationship with the United States, its most important political and economic partner.

Dr. Angela Stanzel joined the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) in 2014 as a Policy Fellow for the Asia and China Program. Before joining ECFR, Dr. Stanzel worked for the BMW Foundation and the International Affairs Office of the Körber Foundation in Berlin. Prior to that, she worked in Brussels for the German Marshall Fund of the United States (Asia Program) and in Beijing at the German Embassy (Cultural Section) as well as for several event and marketing firms. Alongside China’s history, politics, and economics, her research work focuses on East and South Asia’s foreign and security policy. Dr. Stanzel earned her Ph.D. in Sinology at the Freie Universität Berlin, conducting research on China-Pakistan relations. Her thesis was on “The People’s Republic of China as an Actor in Today’s Pakistan – Advantages and Risks of Building a Chinese Power Base in South Asia.”

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