By Lian Yuru (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-29 07:12

October 11 marks the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Germany. German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Beijing on Sunday for her second official visit since taking office. One can assess the development of Sino-German ties from three perspectives: achievements, problems and prospects.

As an international relations scholar, I care more about structural factors, such as how China and Germany perceive the international situation and their own national interests, as well as their ongoing changes.

In this respect, there is a view in both Germany and China that Merkel is pro-US and would naturally emphasize the improvement of German-US ties while keeping China beyond arm's length.

China-Germany relations may have lost some luster since the time of former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's administration. We can find suggestions of this in official descriptions of Germany's foreign policy by both the Chinese and German governments: "cross-Atlantic relations" and "growth of the European Union" constitute the "two main pillars of Germany's foreign policy".

This writer, however, holds a different view.

Individual factors, such as national leaders' personal backgrounds, experiences and administrative styles, can affect bilateral ties, but national interests always play the decisive role: A country's national interests are not constant. They are influenced by changes in the country's social development, and their content, significance and order change in response to the evolution of the international system.

As a matter of fact, 17 years after reunification, German-US relations are no longer the "single most important" pedestal as they were during the Cold War era. What Germany cares about most is freedom of political and social development at its own discretion. The next most important issue is the establishment of a working multi-polar world order.

In third place is pushing the process of European integration forward to make it an independently growing balancing force in international relations of the 21st century. This is followed by ensuring world economic freedom and order.

Standing at fifth and sixth place are Germany's relations with the US and Russia, which have been described by German political scholars as a "function-oriented cross-Atlantic partnership" and a "strategic partnership with Russia".

The main reason for the relatively lower position of US relations in the order of Germany's national interests is that the United States no longer sees Germany and Europe as its strategic frontline as a result of the end of the Cold War. Germany and Europe no longer rely on the US for security assurance; the European Union has become a global operative, and so on.

On the other hand, faced with America's "unilateral imperialist" policy, Germany's political elite have expressed clearly that the country wants to practice "constructive confrontation", or "cooperative balance". Anyway, Germany will "cooperate as much as possible", but take on "confrontation if necessary" because it is no longer willing to take orders from the US unconditionally, no matter for strategic or moral concerns.

China should take note of these adjustments and changes in German-US relations.

The period when China and the Asia-Pacific region did not occupy an important position in the foreign relations agenda of Germany and the European Union ended with the Cold War.

For the construction of a 21st century multi-polar world order, China and Germany see each other as a strategic force of considerable significance. Theirs can be seen as a kind of "natural relationship between allies".

In an opinion poll conducted in June this year, when asked "who will exert the greatest influence on world affairs in the 21 century", 36 percent of the 1,001 German interviewees chose China as Number 1, while the US stood in second place with 23 percent support, followed by 18 percent for the European Union, 6 percent for the United Nations, 6 percent for Russia and 3 percent for India.

At the government level, China and Germany formally announced in 2004 they would build "a partnership with global responsibility" within the framework of the all-round strategic partnership between China and the European Union.

They both believe the UN, as the most important multilateral mechanism, plays a central role in preventing and dealing with regional as well as global challenges, crises and conflicts; only on the basis of multilateralism can we ensure security and peace; terrorism is one of the biggest challenges facing the international community and, because of its complicated roots, only by tackling it from all sides can we clear out its hotbeds, etc.

The two countries' heads of government have talked to each other over the hotline eight times, while their heads of state have paid six visits to each other and exchanged views and coordinated stances over international as well as bilateral issues. The development of bilateral ties enjoys positive momentum and bright prospects.

The relationship between China and Germany is not only reflected in the two countries' common basic stances over policies concerning the international order, but also by the "non-conflicting similarities or consistency" as demonstrated in their historic developments.

Both countries were founded in 1949; they both adopted a "single preference" foreign policy (for the Soviet Union and the US, respectively) early on; both have insisted on "exclusive representation"; they adopted "new foreign policies" in the late 1960s and early 70s (the "new East" policy in German-Soviet ties and "new West" policy in China-US relations).

Following the end of the Cold War, the two countries established themselves as the centers the in processes of regional integration in Europe and Asia and have attracted world attention as rising major powers.

As a long-time major economic power in the world, Germany's rise has been seen mainly in its political performance; while as a political major power China's rise has been reflected mainly in its economic achievements.

By strengthening mutual understanding and cooperation, the two countries can not only benefit their peoples by maintaining mutually beneficial relations, but also by helping push forward regional and worldwide balanced, stable, harmonious and fruitful development.

International differences and conflicts are constant. Therefore it is quite normal to find issues and differences emerging between China and Germany as a result of differences in their political systems, historic and cultural traditions and levels of socio-economic development.

The underlying determinant is that both sides advocate the resolution of differences and conflicts through dialogue and negotiation, while opposing the use of pressure or military force.

China and Germany have established between them 18 mechanisms for talks and dialogues, while attaching importance to the "Asia-Europe dialogue" and cooperation within the framework of the UN. They have proven and will continue to be effective.

For instance, intellectual property rights protecting has been troubling bilateral economic and trade development, with the German media touting allegations of China stealing foreign technology, conducting indiscriminate copying and dumping copied products everywhere.

Some scholars have even come up with a new version of the "China threat" theory, saying China's economic development has triggered a "world war to calve up windfalls of globalization" and what not.

Faced with the challenges that are poisoning bilateral relations, China has not denied the existence of such issues and has said the government is actively taking necessary measures to protect intellectual property rights.

On the other hand, China has intensified talks and cooperation with Germany in solving this problem, including the signing of an agreement this year to cooperate on intellectual property rights protection during Premier Wen Jiabao's working visit to Germany on September 13, 2006.

It is expected that China will make further progress in protecting intellectual property protection in the future because it ultimately serves the country's own interest, too.

The Iranian nuclear stalemate is and will be a hot issue in international relations. Germany, an upbeat advocate of the six-party talks on the Iranian nuclear crisis and the only country in this setup that is not a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has played a very important role in efforts to resolve the challenge facing the international community.

Chancellor Merkel has talked to Premier Wen Jiabao several times to exchange views over the hotline about this issue. These positive foreign policy moves by Germany aim for joint efforts not only to prevent nuclear proliferation, but also to contain military unilateralism and help Iran from falling into a deathtrap like the war in Iraq.

As China and Germany celebrate the 35th anniversary of their diplomatic ties, the new German ambassador to China, Michael Schaefer, and Chinese ambassador to Germany, Ma Canrong, spoke about the development of bilateral ties before Chancellor Merkel's second China trip.

They both believe Sino-German relations will see "a new surge" and "have entered the new stage of full-blown development". Because China and Germany share some similarities in diplomatic interests, policies and behavior patterns, plus actual statistics and facts about comprehensive, in-depth and intense development at all levels and in various areas of bilateral ties in the past 35 years, it is reasonable to predict an optimistic future for the development of China-German relations.

The author is a professor at the School of International Studies, Peking University

(China Daily 08/29/2007 page11)