German leader Friedrich Merz has the chance to take advantage of his country’s reversal of fortunes with China.
Federal Chancellor of Germany Friedrich Merz shakes hands with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at a meeting during the Munich Security Conference, February 14, 2026 in Munich, Germany. Credit: Chinese Foreign Ministry
How the tables have turned.
Siemens' first permanent office in Shanghai, China, was set up in 1904. Credit: Siemens
For decades German industrial firms have been the key industrial "Lehrmeister" (teacher) for their counterparts in China. When German giants such as Volkswagen entered the Chinese economy in the wake of Deng Xiaoping's opening-up reforms in the early 1980s, they were building on an already long history of Sino-German industrial relations. Those had started in the late 1
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From Mike Mansfield to Max Baucus and Steve Daines, Montana has been the unlikely source of America’s most influential China-hand senators over the past half-century. But amidst spy balloons, trade wars and mutual paranoia, being a proponent for rational and beneficial relations between the two countries has never been harder.
The former CIA officer says Washington has lacked a clear strategy towards intelligence on China, in contrast to Beijing’s approach — and that Congress needs to act.
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