A cancelled trip, a chip crisis, and Germany’s China problem
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul postponed a high-level trip to China amid a stand-off over chip exports for the car industry
Dear Reader,
It would have taken German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (CDU) around nine hours to fly between Berlin and Beijing on Sunday, a trip which had been months in the making.
Instead, he spent just one hour in the air, bound for Brussels — “a place to meet allies and friends,” he said on Monday afternoon — postponing what was meant to be his first official visit to China since Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government took office in May.
Wadephul had planned to meet his counterpart Wang Yi to press Beijing over export restrictions on certain rare earths and semiconductors — controls that have squeezed Germany’s carmakers and defence suppliers and are set to increase on November 8th.
He also hoped to bring up China’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine through the supply of dual-use electronics, as well as growing security tensions in East Asia.
But, after Beijing confirmed only one meeting, Wadephul pulled the plug. He downplayed the decision as a postponement and not an outright cancellation, and said he’d try to reschedule. “We are always ready for dialogue,” he said, adding: “I believe it was the right decision in this situation.”
China also responded diplomatically, emphasising the benefits of continued cooperation between the two countries.
Behind the public restraint, however, lies a sharper dispute with Germany’s largest trading partner. Beijing reportedly demanded that Wadephul retract his criticism of China’s policies on Taiwan and Ukraine before the trip — a condition he was never likely to cave into.
In response, China’s foreign ministry offered only the meeting with Wang Yi, turning what was meant to be a two-day, high-level diplomatic visit into a largely empty itinerary.
The cancellation comes amid an escalating dispute over semiconductor exports that could bring Germany’s automotive industry to its knees if left unresolved.
In early October, Beijing imposed an export ban on chips produced by Nexperia — a key supplier to German carmakers. The company’s semiconductors are essential for controlling systems ranging from windscreen wipers to dashboard displays. Facing acute shortages, Volkswagen is reportedly considering a temporary halt in production of its Golf model.
Nexperia, often described as Europe’s only major chip manufacturer, operates a large production facility in Hamburg. The complication, however, lies in its ownership and supply chain: the company is Chinese-owned, and its chips are packaged in China before being shipped to European customers.
Beijing’s decision to restrict exports is rooted in a dispute with the Dutch government over Nexperia’s ownership. Yet it also reflects a broader trend — China’s increasing willingness to weaponize exports of critical materials in its economic relations with the European Union.
What’s the reaction been?
Although Wadephul closely coordinated the cancellation with Chancellor Merz (CDU), the decision has nevertheless drawn criticism from his coalition partner, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD). Adis Ahmetović, the SPD foreign policy spokesman, called it an unfortunate signal and a wake-up call to “rethink Germany’s China strategy.”
“Direct dialogue with China is particularly important in a phase of global tensions,” he added.
The cancellation was also met with disapproval from the political fringes. Left Party leader Jan van Aken accused Wadephul of “endangering the relationship with China” simply because he “didn’t get all the meetings he wanted.” Meanwhile, the AfD accused him of “acting like a bull in a china shop” — pun very much intended.
But the CDU has stood firmly behind Wadephul. Jürgen Hardt, the CDU’s foreign policy spokesman, criticised Beijing for attempting to influence German political decisions and defended Wadephul’s choice to postpone the visit. “The German government is not playing along with this game,” he said, stressing that Berlin still seeks “good and fair relations” with China.
CDU lawmakers Roderich Kiesewetter and Norbert Röttgen went further, calling for Germany to “de-couple” from China and warning against overreliance. Germany must “reduce one-sided dependencies on China that make us vulnerable,” Röttgen told the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland.
Advertisement:
What comes next?
Chancellor Friedrich Merz, struggling to revive an economy that has stagnated for three years, now faces mounting pressure from industries losing ground to cheaper Chinese competitors. His effort to secure a meeting with President Xi Jinping — and to reset a fraying relationship — now looks significantly more complicated.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD) will travel to Beijing in mid-November for the fourth Chinese–German financial dialogue — a visit expected to be closely watched in both capitals.
The importance of the Sino-German relationship is hard to overstate. Between January and August this year, China overtook the United States to become Germany’s largest trading partner, with €163.4 billion in trade compared to €162.8 billion with the U.S., according to new figures from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).
German exports to the U.S. fell by 7.4 percent, weighed down by new American tariffs, while imports from China rose by 8.3 percent — a trend expected to continue.
With the U.S. tightening restrictions on Chinese imports, German manufacturers may increasingly look to the People’s Republic for advanced industrial goods. At the same time, demand in China for German high-end engineering, medical devices, and luxury vehicles could grow as access to U.S. products narrows.
Yet economists are sounding the alarm: a surge of Chinese goods into European markets may deepen Germany’s dependency on Beijing — a dependency the Bundesrepublik has long pledged to reduce. At the same time, China’s competitive pressure on key German sectors — from automotive and machinery to chemicals — is intensifying.
The German Review’s take
Germany’s 2023 China strategy under the previous coalition described Beijing as a “partner, competitor, and systemic rival.” Wadephul’s aborted trip, however, suggests that the current government may be tilting further toward the “systemic rival” end of that spectrum.
Politically, this marks a shift toward a more assertive, if still cautious, diplomacy. Germany remains acutely aware of its economic dependence on China — in trade, supply chains, and critical raw materials. Yet Berlin is increasingly willing to stand its ground on sensitive issues such as Taiwan, Ukraine, and export restrictions, rather than accommodating Beijing’s preferences.
Germany cannot afford another strategic blind spot. To avoid the vulnerabilities it faced at the 11th hour with its over-dependence on Russia, it needs to diversify its supply chains — from rare earths to semiconductors — and build partnerships beyond China, ensuring it isn’t too dependent on any single power. The Nexperia chip stand-off illustrates just how urgent this task has become.
For decades, Germany’s deep commercial entanglement with China fostered a cautious approach. But as security analyst Nico Lange recently wrote in Internationale Politik, that era may be ending. “The current crisis with China shows that Germany’s traditional, overly cautious, bureaucratic, and reactive approach can hardly cope in a world of more power-conscious, capable, and willing actors.”
Lange has called for a bolder containment strategy and an economic policy rooted in reciprocity — protecting sensitive technologies, ensuring fair treatment, and defending German industry from strategic encroachment.
Seen in this light, Wadephul’s postponement looks less like a diplomatic misstep and more like a calculated message: Germany is an equal partner — one that will not be pushed around.
Last week’s poll: Should the CDU consider working with the AfD?
Yes - 63%
No - 36%
News in Brief
🏙️ Around 50 prominent German women from politics, culture, and science have written an open letter to Chancellor Friedrich Merz after his controversial remarks about Germany’s Stadtbild (“cityscape”). Many interpreted his words -- and his follow-up comment to “ask your daughters” -- as suggesting that women face threats from foreigners in German cities. The signatories urged Merz to move beyond rhetoric and make women’s safety a genuine political priority, not a proxy for anti-immigration sentiment. Their appeal coincides with the centre-left SPD’s call for a Bundestag “safety summit” to develop a plan for a “social, safe, and united Stadtbild.” Despite Merz’s insistence that he merely referred to immigrants without legal status who break the law, protests have spread nationwide, with activists uniting under the slogan “We don’t have a cityscape problem — we have a racism problem.”
👮 Berlin police searched the home of prominent media scholar and publicist Norbert Bolz on Thursday in reaction to a post he made on X in January 2024, in which he ironically used the historically banned Nazi slogan “Deutschland erwache!” (Germany, wake up!) . The raid was carried out under a warrant tied to investigations for violating Article 86a of the German Criminal Code, which criminalises “the use of symbols from unconstitutional organisations.” Free speech experts slammed the raid on the 72-year-old’s apartment for going too far, arguing that targeting the conservative commentator for satirical use of the slogan marks a troubling precedent in Germany’s speech law enforcement. “I’ll only talk about trees from now on,” Bolz commented sarcastically in another post on X following the incident.
🎒Germany’s Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CDU) said on Monday that he wants schools to prepare school children for crises and even potential wartime scenarios. He proposed a single dedicated lesson for older students to discuss threats and how to respond, stressing that schoolkids can in turn bring valuable knowledge into their families. The plan was met with a mixed response: Die Linke and the AfD denounced it as fearmongering or militarising education, while the Greens welcomed practical lessons in crisis readiness, while urging broader nationwide drills. Dobrindt is also rolling out a ‘civil protection initiative’, which would involve improving warning systems, shelters, and emergency supplies, and encouraging residents to stockpile things like food, batteries and even radios.
Members’ Corner
On the ‘Stadtbild’ debate
Germany was a latecomer to the modern Western world of multi-ethnic societies. Between 2010 and now, the number of foreign nationals has more than doubled. Polling shows that a majority of Germans feel "alienated" by this rapid change. Long the elephant in the room, that sense of alienation has now become the centre of an emotional debate over the country's future.
Berlin might still be sexy, but it sure ain’t poor
Berlin receives huge subsidies from the rest of the country - €4 billion last year alone. But does a city whose economy is growing while the rest of the country stagnates really deserve to keep receiving such large sums of money?
We’re reading:
Handpicked Berlin - tech, startup and career news for Berlin
Kaffee+Kuchen - musings on expat life in Germany
20% Berlin - local Berlin news in English
Share The German Review with friends to win a free subscription
Sincerely,
Rachel Stern