Sino-German relations

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Sino-German relations
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The relations between China and Germany have a long and varied history.

Early contacts

Adam Schall von Bell, German Jesuit priest at the Chinese imperial court

The first contacts between China and Europe came through reports from European travelers. These included Johannes de Plano Carpini (1185–1252), Wilhelm von Rubruk (1215–1270), Marco Polo's father Niccolò Polo , his uncle Maffeo Polo (also Maffio or Matteo), both jewelery dealers from Venice, and Marco Polo . After Vasco da Gama (1469–1524) discovered the sea route to India , contacts by sea became possible. The European interest in Christian mission went hand in hand with the trade contacts. In 1582 the Italian Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci traveled to China and founded the Jesuit mission there, which was active there for more than a century. The Jesuits were valued at the Chinese imperial court for their extensive education and knowledge of astronomy, mathematics, and the sciences. They also included Germans such as Adam Schall von Bell or Flemings such as Ferdinand Verbiest . The European maritime trade with China was completely dominated by Portuguese and Dutch during this period. In particular, Germans were hired on Dutch merchant and warships. B. Caspar Schmalkalden from Thuringia, who wrote a detailed travel report after his return from East Asia in 1652. In this way, more and more information about China came to Germany.

17th and 18th centuries

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
The Chinese pavilion in the park of Pillnitz Castle

The Jesuits, who were valued there for their astronomical and mathematical knowledge, worked at the Chinese imperial court from the middle of the 17th century. The Chinese calendar reform was mainly worked out by the German Jesuit priest Adam Schall von Bell . Schall, who had the rank of mandarin at the imperial court and acted as a direct advisor to the emperor, also translated several European specialist books into Chinese. More detailed information about the internal conditions of China came to Europe through the Jesuits. In the late 17th and 18th centuries there was considerable interest in the culture and civilization of China among German intellectuals. In art and architecture, this went partly in parallel with the fashion of chinoiserie , in which supposedly Chinese traditions were imitated. Most European intellectuals were dominated by the image of China as a culture on a par with Europe, and even superior in some respects. Above all, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz had a great interest in Chinese culture , who had been in lively correspondence with the Jesuits from 1689 in Rome with the Jesuit Father Grimaldi until 1712 . Leibniz repeatedly expressed his appreciation and respect for Chinese cultural achievements. He envisioned a scientific and cultural exchange between Europe and the Chinese Empire based on mutual respect for the benefit of both parties. Leibniz dedicated several books and scientific writings to the subject of China, including a. the Novissima Sinica , published in two volumes in 1697/1699 . In addition to his scientific interest, Leibniz also pursued a theological interest. From the exploration of the early history of China, for example the Nestorians , he wanted to gain knowledge about the early history of Christianity and he saw China as a field for the Christian-Protestant mission.

Chinese commodities reached Germany primarily through the initially mainly Portuguese and Spanish, then from the 17th century Dutch and English intermediate trade, which was carried out by sea. China's export goods were porcelain, silk work and tea. German merchants were also involved in the China trade . In 1751, during the rule of the Qing dynasty, the first trading ships of the Emden “ Royal Prussian Asian Company ” reached China.

19th century to the First World War

After China had long expressed its disinterest in more intensive trade relations, the violent opening of the Chinese market by European powers took place in the First and Second Opium Wars (1839–1842 and 1856–1860). After that, China's foreign trade was controlled entirely by Great Britain and to a lesser extent France. In the Treaty of Tianjin in 1861, China had to commit to opening up the empire to trade with various European states, including Prussia . The first official contacts between Prussia and the Chinese Empire were established through the Eulenberg Expedition or the Prussian East Asia Expedition in 1861. William I appointed in 1859, when he was still as Prince Regent for his sick brother . Frederick William IV acted Friedrich Albrecht Graf zu Eulenburg as a special envoy on behalf of Prussia and the German Confederation and sent him on an expedition to China, Japan and Siam to to establish diplomatic and commercial relations.

SMS Arcona

In May 1861 the embassy reached Tianjin , where Eulenburg began negotiations with Zongli Yamen for a trade agreement. Shortly before, Beijing had been occupied by British and French troops in the Second Opium War , and Emperor Xianfeng was still in exile in Chengde . The negotiations dragged on for three months and the Chinese emperor passed away in late August. On September 2, 1861, a trade agreement was concluded , which Chonglun signed as a representative of China. The contract was modeled on the French Treaty of Tianjin . In this treaty, Prussia represented the entire German Customs Union and laid the basis for German-Chinese relations up until the First World War, when the treaties were unilaterally terminated by China as one of the unequal treaties with the eight foreign nations.

With the rapid industrialization of Germany in the second half of the 19th century, German trade interests in China increased. In 1890, the Deutsch-Asiatische Bank was founded with the purpose of financing German investments in China. In 1896, the German Empire was in second place behind the British in China's trade and shipping statistics.

Chinese ironclad "Ting-Yuen"

In contrast to the United Kingdom and France, German politics did not pursue any territorial interests of its own for a long time and did not appear as a colonial power there. Therefore, the Chinese government saw Germany as a partner who could help China modernize it. The Chinese government bought two battleships built in Germany , the Dingyuan and her sister ship Zhenyuan, for its navy . After China's first efforts at modernization, followed by the defeat in the first Sino-Japanese war, failed, Yuan Shikai asked for German help in building the "Self- Strengthening Army " ( Chinese  自強 軍 , Pinyin Zìqiáng Jūn ) and the Newly Created Army (新建 陸軍; Xīnjìan Lùjūn). German investments were not only about military equipment, but also about industry. For example, in the late 1880s, the Krupp Company was commissioned by the Chinese government to build a series of fortifications around Port Arthur .

Map of Tsingtau in the German leased area Kiautschou

Under the rule of Wilhelm II , German China policy took a more aggressive direction in the height of imperialism. After the first Sino-Japanese war, with the intervention of Shimonoseki , Japan was forced to surrender its concessions in Hankou and Tianjin to Germany. In 1897, Germany also forced China to lease an area on Kiautschou Bay in Shandong to the German Empire for 99 years. The area had been selected by the Reichsmarineamt because there was a large natural harbor here, which was suitable as a naval base for the German war fleet, which was being expanded. With considerable financial expenditures, the Naval Office built Kiautschou into the largest port in northern China in the following 15 years. The remains of the brief German colonial rule that still exist there today are the Qingdao University (founded in 1909 as a German-Chinese university) and the well-known Tsingtao brewery , which was built by German brewery engineers.

The Boxer Rebellion of 1900, which was directed against Western interference in China, was put down by a pan-European punitive expedition led by the German Field Marshal Alfred von Waldersee . The event marked a low point in Sino-German relations. On the occasion of the departure of German troops to China, Kaiser Wilhelm II gave his notorious Huns speech . The division of China among the colonial powers was ultimately only prevented by their mutual distrust and the inconsistent territorial claims. The Western powers and Japan agreed on an open door policy . For several years, China lost essential sovereign rights, such as control over customs administration, which were placed under international control.

The development of modern Chinese law was significantly influenced by German law during this period. Before the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Chinese reformers began to work out a civil code that was largely based on the German Civil Code , which was also adopted in Japan (and indirectly Korea). Although this draft was not promulgated until the collapse of the Qing Dynasty, it was the basis for the Civil Code of the Republic of China, which was introduced in 1930. To this day, it still applies in Taiwan and has influenced the law in mainland China .

20th century

Nevertheless, Sino-German relations became less intense in the period before the First World War . One reason for this was Germany's political isolation, which became more and more apparent as a result of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902 and the Triple Entente of 1907. Therefore, Germany proposed a German-Chinese-American agreement in 1907, which was never implemented. In 1912, Germany offered the Chinese government a loan of six million Reichsmarks and resumed the rights to build the Chinese railroad in Shandong. When the First World War broke out in Europe in 1914, Germany offered to return Kiautschou Bay to China to prevent the concessions from falling to Japan. Nevertheless, Japan entered the war on the side of the Allies and continued the attack on German concessions in China. Japan took Kiautschou Bay and Tsingtao . During the war, Germany did not take an active role in the Far East and did not take any initiative in any significant action, as the focus was on the war in Europe.

On February 17, 1917, the German submarine U 65 torpedoed the French troop transporter Athos southeast of Malta . a. 543 Chinese contract workers were killed. On August 14, 1917, China declared war on Germany and won the German concessions in Hankou and Tianjin . After the defeat of Germany, China should regain further German areas of influence. With the Treaty of Versailles , however, these concessions went to Japan. The feeling of betrayal by the Allies ignited the May Fourth nationalist movement . As a result, World War I dealt a serious blow to Sino-German relations, particularly trade. For example, of the almost 300 German companies that were based in China in 1913, only two companies had locations there by 1919.

First World War

In 1917, after the German Reich declared submarine warfare , China was drawn into the First World War by declaring war on the Central Powers Germany and Austria-Hungary . Although China did not send troops to the European, Asian Minor or African theater of war, it did support the French armaments industry, agriculture and mining with around 140,000 Chinese contract workers for the staging area of ​​the British troops in France. The internal turmoil prevented China from directly participating in the war. China's most important motive for even entering the war was fear of Japan's tough imperialist interest policy. In November 1914, shortly after entering the World War, the Japanese took the German colony of Kiautschou / Tsingtau on China's coast. Japan now had an appetite for new conquests. China wanted the assistance of the European and American allies of World War I to secure its territory against Japan - and that assistance it should get by declaring war on the Allied enemies.

Sino-German cooperation in the 1920s

Sino-German military cooperation

The Versailles Treaty severely restricted German military armament. The Reichswehr was limited to 100,000 men, and military production was also extremely restricted. Still, the treaty did not curtail Germany's leadership in military development. Many companies continued to research and manufacture military equipment. In order to continue to legally manufacture and sell weapons and to circumvent the restrictions of the treaty, these companies formed partnerships with other nations such as the Soviet Union and Argentina .

After Yuan Shi-kai's death, the central Beiyang government in China collapsed and a civil war broke out in which various warlords vied for supremacy. As a result, many German arms manufacturers began to try to reestablish commercial ties with China in order to gain a foothold in its broad arms market.

The Kuomintang government in Guangzhou also sought German support, and Chu Chia-hua (朱家 驊; Zhū Jiāhuá), who had studied in Germany, stepped forward. From 1926 to 1944 he was instrumental in organizing almost every Sino-German contact. In addition to German technological progress, there were other reasons that brought Germany back to a leading position in Chinese foreign policy. At first, after the loss of all colonies in World War I, Germany no longer had any imperialist ambitions in China. There, the xenophobic protests from 1925 to 1926 were mainly directed against Great Britain. In addition, unlike the Soviet Union, which helped reorganize the Kuomintang party and open it up to communists, Germany had no political interests in China that could have led to a confrontation with the central government. Furthermore, Chiang Kai-shek saw German history as worth emulating, especially in the respect that the unification of the German Empire could be instructive for the unification of China in Chiang's view. As a result, Germany was seen as the main force behind China's international development.

In 1926, Chu Chia-hua invited Max Bauer to China to explore the investment opportunities there. The following year, Bauer arrived in Guangzhou and was offered a job as Chiang Kai-shek's advisor. Bauer returned to Germany in 1928 in order to establish suitable industrial contacts there for China's "reconstruction". He began recruiting for a permanent advisory position with Chiang Kai-shek in Nanking. But Bauer was not entirely successful as many German companies hesitated because of the unstable political situation in China. Bauer was also discredited because of his involvement in the Kapp Putsch of 1920 in Germany. In addition, Germany was still restricted by the Versailles Treaty, which made direct investments in the military impossible. Max Bauer died of smallpox seven months after returning to China and was buried in Shanghai . However, for a short time in China, Bauers laid the foundation for the later Sino-German cooperation, as he advised the Kuomintang government on the modernization of industry and the military. He spoke out in favor of downsizing the Chinese army in order to form a small but all the better trained force. He also supported the opening of the Chinese market in order to promote German production and German exports.

Sino-German cooperation in the 1930s

Law on the establishment of a German embassy in China of July 16, 1935

Nevertheless, Sino-German trade was weakened between 1930 and 1932 due to the Great Depression. Furthermore, industrialization in China could not advance as quickly as possible. This was due to a conflict of interests between various Chinese reconstruction companies, German import-export companies and the Reichswehr , all of whom wanted to benefit from China's progress. Until the Mukden incident in 1931, through which Manchuria was annexed by Japan, the development could not be advanced. This incident highlighted the need in China for an industrial policy aimed at directing the military and industry to resist Japan. This led to the establishment of a centrally planned national defense economy being pushed forward from now on. As a result, on the one hand, Chiang's rule over nominally unified China was strengthened, and on the other hand, efforts towards industrialization were increased.

The Hitler Youth collects in Tianjin for the winter relief organization , 1934
Hitler Youth in China, 1935
Jungmädel and BDM girls looking for Easter eggs in Wuxi , 1934

The " seizure of power " by the NSDAP in 1933 accelerated the formation of a concrete German policy on China. Before that, German policy towards China was contradicting itself : The foreign ministers of the Weimar Republic always advocated a neutral East Asia policy and prevented the Reichswehr and industry from interfering too much in the Chinese government. The import-export companies also took this view for fear that direct government agreements would dissuade them from their profitable position as middlemen. The Nazi government now pursued a war economy policy that demanded all raw material supplies that China could supply. In particular, the militarily important raw materials such as tungsten and antimony were in demand in large numbers. Hence, from now on, raw materials became the main driver of German China policy.

In 1933, Hans von Seeckt , who had come to Shanghai in May of that year, became the chief adviser for Chinese overseas economics and military development with regard to Germany. In June 1933 he published the memorandum for Marshal Chiang Kai-shek on his program for the industrialization and militarization of China. He called for a small, mobile, and well-equipped army instead of a large but under-trained army. For this purpose, a framework should be created in which the army is the pillar of the government, its effectiveness is based on qualitative superiority and this superiority is derived from the quality of the officer corps.

Von Seeckt suggested uniform training of the army under Chiang's command and the subordination of the entire military into a centralized network, similar to a pyramid, as the first steps in creating this framework. A “training unit” should be set up for this purpose, which should serve as a model for other units. So a professional and competent army with a strictly military officer corps should be formed, which is controlled by a central authority.

This Heinkel 111A , one of eleven bought by the Chinese Ministry of Aviation, was later in service with the CNAC

In addition, China would have to build up its own defense industry with German help, since it could not always rely on buying weapons abroad. The first step towards efficient industrialization was centralization - not only that of the Chinese reconstruction companies, but also that of German companies. In January 1934, the trading company for industrial products (Hapro for short) was founded in order to bundle Germany's industrial interests in China. Hapro was nominally a private company, through which the influence of other countries should be avoided. In August 1934 a contract was signed to exchange Chinese raw materials and agricultural products for German industrial products. Accordingly, the Chinese government should deliver strategically important raw materials in exchange for German industrial products and technologies. This barter transaction was extremely useful for Sino-German cooperation, because China had a very high budget deficit due to the high military spending in the time of the civil war and could therefore not take out loans from the international community. The contract also made it clear that Germany and China are equal partners and equally important for this exchange. After initiating this milestone in Sino-German cooperation, von Seeckt handed over his post to General Alexander von Falkenhausen and returned to Germany in March 1935, where he died in 1936.

Industrialization of China

1928 Chinese Premier Chiang Tso-pin and his companions visit the German AEG -Werk

In 1936, China had only about 16,000 km of railroad tracks, far less than the 150,000 km Sun Yat-sen allowed for his vision of modernized China. In addition, half of these routes were in Manchuria , which had already been lost to Japan and was therefore no longer under the control of the Kuomintang. The slow progress in modernizing the Chinese transportation system was based on the conflict of foreign interests in China. The interests of the four-power consortium of 1920, consisting of Great Britain, France, the USA and Japan, in banking are to be cited here as an example. This consortium aimed to regulate foreign investment in China. The agreement stipulated that one of the four states could only grant the Chinese government a loan if unanimous approval was given. In addition, other states were reluctant to provide funds because of the global economic crisis.

Nevertheless, the construction of the railroad in China was greatly accelerated by Sino-German agreements in 1934 and 1936. Important lines were built between Nanchang , Zhejiang and Guizhou . This development was also made possible by the fact that Germany needed an efficient transport system for the export of raw materials. In addition, these railroad lines helped the Chinese government build an industrial center south of the Yangtze River . After all, the railroad was used to perform military functions. For example, the Hangzhou - Guiyang line was built to support military transports in the Yangtze River Delta, even after Shanghai and Nanking were lost. Similarly, the Guangzhou - Hankou line was used for transportation between the east coast and the Wuhan area. The value of the railroad would become apparent at the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War .

The most important industrial project of the Sino-German cooperation was the three-year plan of 1936, which was implemented jointly by the Chinese government's national raw materials commission and Harpo (see above). The purpose of this plan was to build up Chinese industry for the time being so that China could withstand a Japanese attack, and in the long run to establish a center for the future industrial development of China. Some of the fundamental elements of the plan were the monopoly of all tungsten and antimony- related factories, the establishment of central steel and machine plants in provinces such as Hubei , Hunan and Sichuan, and the development of power plants and other chemical plants. As fundamentally agreed in the 1934 exchange agreement, China would supply raw materials for Germany to provide the necessary expertise and equipment. An overflow in costs on the German side was alleviated by the fact that the price of tungsten more than doubled in the period from 1932 to 1936. The three-year plan created a class of highly educated technocrats who were trained to lead the state projects. While the plan made many promises, many of its accomplishments were ultimately undermined by the outbreak of war against Japan in 1937.

Armament of China

Alexander von Falkenhausen was largely responsible for the military training, which was also part of the trade. Hans von Seeckt's plans called for a drastic reduction in the military to 60 divisions well trained in accordance with German military doctrines, but the question of where savings should be made remained open. The entire officer corps, which was trained in the Whampoa Military Academy until 1927 , was qualitatively only slightly better than the leaders of the warlord armies, but remained of great value to Chiang Kai-shek because of its sheer loyalty. Nevertheless, around 80,000 soldiers in eight divisions were trained according to German standards. These represented the elite of the Chinese army. These new divisions may have contributed to Chiang's decision to escalate the fighting at the Marco Polo Bridge into war. However, China was not yet ready to oppose Japan. Hence, Chiang's decision to send all new divisions into the battle for Shanghai cost two-thirds of his best troops, which had been trained for years. He did this against all objections of his staff officers and against the advice of Falkenhausens, who suggested that he maintain his fighting strength in order to maintain order and to fight later.

Von Falkenhausen recommended that Chiang pursue attrition tactics against Japan, believing Japan could never win a long-term war. He suggested keeping the front on the Yellow River and only pushing north as the war progressed. Chiang should also be prepared to give up some northern regions of China, including Shandong . The retreat was supposed to be slow, however, so the Japanese could only advance with heavy losses. He also recommended the construction of fortifications near mining areas, the coast, rivers, etc. He also advised the Chinese to carry out guerrilla operations behind the Japanese lines. This should help to weaken the militarily more experienced Japanese.

Von Falkenhausen also took the view that it was too optimistic to expect that the Chinese army would have tanks and heavy artillery available in the war against Japan. Chinese industry was only just beginning to modernize, and it would be a while before the army was equipped in a manner similar to the Wehrmacht . Nonetheless, he emphasized the development of a mobile force based on the use of small arms and infiltration tactics .

However, German aid in the military field was not limited to training and reorganization. It also included military equipment. According to von Seeckt, around 80 percent of Chinese weapons emissions were below par or unsuitable for modern warfare. Therefore, projects were started to retrofit and expand existing factories along the Yangtze and to build new arms and ammunition factories. For example, the arms factory in Hanyang was rebuilt from 1935 to 1936 to meet standards. There should now Maxim machine guns , several 82 mm grave mortar and Chiang Kai-shek rifle (中正式; Zhongzheng Shì), which on the German carbine 98k are made based. Together with the Hanyang 88, this rifle formed the predominant weapon used by the Chinese army during the war. Another factory was built based on plans for a mustard gas production facility , the construction of which was demolished, to manufacture gas masks . In May 1938, additional factories were built in Hunan to produce 20 mm, 37 mm and 75 mm artillery. A factory for the manufacture of optical equipment such as binoculars for riflescopes was built in Nanking in late 1936. Additional factories were built or expanded to manufacture other weapons or artillery, such as the MG-34 , mountain artillery of various calibres, and even spare parts for the Chinese army's light armored vehicles . Some research institutes were also set up under German protection. These included the “Bureau for Guns and Weapons” and the Chemical Research Institute under the supervision of IG Farben . Many of these institutes were headed by Chinese engineers returning from Germany. In 1935 and 1936, China ordered a total of 315,000 steel helmets and large numbers of Mauser rifles . China imported an additional small number of aircraft the company Junkers , Heinkel and Messerschmitt , some of which were only assembled in China, howitzers of Krupp and Rheinmetall , anti-tank guns and mountain guns like the PaK 37mm, as well as armored vehicles such as the Panzer I . These modernization measures proved their usefulness with the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War . Although the Japanese were finally able to take the nationalist capital, Nanjing , this took several months and was associated with far greater costs than either side had anticipated. Despite this loss, the fact that Chinese troops could credibly challenge the Japanese made Chinese morale a lot stronger. Additionally, due to the high cost of the campaign, the Japanese were reluctant to advance further into China's interior, allowing the nationalist government to move the political and industrial infrastructure to Sichuan .

End of the Sino-German cooperation with the outbreak of the Second World War

The outbreak of the second Sino-Japanese War on July 7, 1937 destroyed a large part of the progress and the promises of almost 10 years of intensive Sino-German cooperation. Aside from the destruction of industrial plants, Adolf Hitler's foreign policy was the most detrimental to German-Chinese relations. In principle, Hitler chose Japan as an ally against the Soviet Union because it had better military capacities for this purpose. This situation was made worse by the non-aggression pact between China and the Soviet Union of August 21, 1937, and despite violent protests from the Chinese lobby and German investors, Hitler could not be dissuaded from his position. Nevertheless, Harpo was allowed to deliver already placed Chinese orders, but no further orders from Nanking were accepted.

There were also plans for a German-mediated peace between Japan and China. However, with the fall of Nanking in December 1937, any compromise became unacceptable to the Chinese government. The German mediation plans were therefore abandoned. In early 1938, Germany recognized Manchukuo as an independent state. In April of this year, Hermann Göring banned all deliveries of war material to China, and in May all German advisors were called back to Germany under pressure from Japan.

This change from a pro-Chinese policy to a pro-Japanese one also damaged German economic interests. Because neither with Japan nor with Manchukuo took place as much trade as with China. A pro-Chinese stance was also evident among most Germans living in China. Germans in Hankou raised more donations for the Red Cross than all Chinese and other foreigners put together. Military advisors also wanted recognition for their contracts with the Chinese government. Von Falkenhausen was eventually forced to leave China by the end of June 1938. However, he promised Chiang that he would never disclose his work in China to help the Japanese. On the other hand, the German government proclaimed Japan a bulwark against communism in China.

Wang Jingwei , head of government of the Chinese counter-government installed by the Japanese in Nanking with the German ambassador Heinrich Georg Stahmer (1941)

Still, Germany's new relationship with Japan would prove sterile. Japan enjoyed a monopoly in northern China and Manchukuo, and many foreign companies were confiscated. The German interests were just as neglected as those of other nations. While negotiations to solve these economic problems continued towards mid-1939, Hitler concluded the German-Soviet non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union. This invalidated the German-Japanese Anti-Comintern Pact of 1936 and broke off negotiations. While the Soviet Union allowed Germany to use the Trans-Siberian Railroad for transports from Manchukuo to Germany, the volumes transported remained small and the lack of connections between Germany, the Soviet Union and Japan exacerbated the problem. The German attack on the Soviet Union in 1941 put an end to Germany's economic activities in Asia.

However, contact between Germany and China remained until 1941 and both sides wished to resume cooperation as the German-Japanese alliance was not very useful. However, towards the end of 1940 Germany signed the three-power pact with Japan and Italy. In July 1941, Hitler officially recognized the " Reorganized Government of the Republic of China " under Wang Jingwei in Nanking, which dashed all hopes of contact with the Chinese government under Chiang, which had been relocated to Chongqing . Wang's Nanking government also joined the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1941. After the attack on Pearl Harbor , Chiang's Chongqing-China formally joined the Allies instead and declared war on Germany on December 9, 1941.

Conclusion on the Chinese-German cooperation between the world wars

Chiang Wei-kuo , son of Chiang Kai-shek, went through military training in Germany

The Sino-German cooperation of the 1930s was perhaps the most ambitious and successful manifestation of Sun Yat-sen's ideal of an "international development" to modernize China. The fact that Germany had not been a colonial power in China since the First World War, and the German need for raw materials on the one hand and China's urgent need for industrial and military development on the other, favored the cooperation. As a result, a collaboration developed based on equality and reciprocity. At the time of National Socialism, the Chinese leadership was impressed by Germany's rapid military recovery. The under tight leadership, apparently internally united, outwardly glamorous National Socialist German Reich, in which all party disputes had been eliminated, appeared as a state in which the forces of the entire nation were bundled towards the goal of national strengthening and thus as a kind of model for a strong new China. Just as vigorously as Germany freed itself from the shackles of the Versailles Treaty, China should also free itself from the unequal treaties and external harassment in order to take on its rightful rank as a great power.

In summary, although Sino-German cooperation, although short-lived and destroyed many of its results in the war against Japan for which China was only remotely prepared, had some lasting effects on China's modernization. After the Kuomintang's defeat in the Chinese Civil War , the nationalist government moved to Taiwan . Many government officials and officers of the Republic of China in Taiwan were trained as research personnel or officers in Germany, as was Chiang Wei-kuo , the son of Chiang Kai-shek. Part of Taiwan's rapid industrialization after the war can be traced back to the plans and goals of the 1936 Three-Year Plan.

German military advisers in China

During the Chinese civil war between the Kuomintang under Chiang Kaishek and the Chinese Communist Party under Mao Zedong , both sides were advised by German military instructors and strategists, similar to the American civil war .

Post-war relations

Diplomatic relations between the GDR and the People's Republic of China

For ideological reasons, the GDR recognized the People's Republic of China as a sovereign nation state in the year it was founded and established diplomatic relations. Even in the Tiananmen massacre , the SED leadership sided with the government in China. She commented on New Germany on June 5, 1989: "Counter-revolutionary uprising in China was put down by the People's Liberation Army". The People's Chamber passed a resolution in which the GDR announced its support for the suppression of the “counter-revolutionary unrest”. During a visit by the Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen to East Berlin , the Foreign Minister of the GDR, Oskar Fischer , praised the close relations between the GDR and the People's Republic of China ; GDR politicians like Hans Modrow , Günter Schabowski and Egon Krenz visited China to document their support. Krenz expressed himself in June 1989 when he said that “something had been done to restore order”. As the events of political change in the GDR came to a head, fear arose that the government of the GDR might opt for a Chinese solution . In June 1990, the now freely elected GDR People's Chamber regretted the support of the Chinese government a year earlier and remembered the victims.

Relationship between the early Federal Republic of Germany and the People's Republic of China

The West German Federal Republic initially did not recognize the People's Republic of China. The reason for this lay on the one hand in the strictly anti-communist foreign policy orientation of the early Federal Republic and on the other hand in the fact that the People's Republic had recognized the GDR, which according to the Hallstein doctrine made diplomatic relations impossible. Diplomatic relations were also not established with the Republic of China in Taiwan under General Chiang Kai-shek . In principle, the Federal Republic of Germany supported the one-China position , ie the position that there could only be one China, as in this way it hoped to find support for its position of German unity. Despite the lack of official relationships, there was a cultural and informal exchange. In 1957 the German-Chinese Society was founded. Its members include Germans and Taiwanese. The society initially consisted primarily of members of the German Bundestag who were concerned about the long-term development of German-Taiwanese relations. With the move to Berlin, the company changed its name. By adding “Friends of Taiwan”, she clarifies her orientation. The company is the only one of its kind in Europe. In 1957 the Parliamentary Friends of Berlin-Taipei was founded.

On October 25, 1971, resolution 2758 of the UN General Assembly recognized the People's Republic of China instead of the Republic of China (Taiwan) as the legitimate representative of China, whereby the People's Republic received China's previous seat on the Security Council and the Republic of China on Taiwan entirely from the United Nations eliminated.

In October 1972 the Federal Republic of Germany officially established diplomatic contacts with the People's Republic. There had been unofficial contacts since 1964.

After the turnaround and perestroika

The China Chamber of Commerce opened its offices, and numerous ambassadors of the People's Republic left the former Eastern Bloc countries.

21st century

Economic level

There are extensive Chinese investments in the form of company acquisitions and stakes in Germany, especially in so-called key sectors.

From 2016 to 2018 inclusive, China bought 155 German companies and spent 36.5 billion euros on them. In 2017, China invested almost US $ 13.7 billion in 54 companies in Germany and was the fourth largest investor there after the USA, Switzerland and Great Britain.

In the first half of 2019 there was a significant decline in Chinese company acquisitions and holdings in Europe; not a single major takeover took place in Germany during this time. Experts see the reason in a weak phase of the Chinese economy in view of the trade conflict with the USA .

Positive

As a huge sales market, China is one of the reasons for the sustained growth in German exports . In 2019, German companies exported goods worth 96 billion euros to China. Luxury goods, vehicles, machines and beer are particularly valued. From 2015 to 2019 inclusive, China was Germany's largest trading partner and Germany was China's largest trading partner in a European comparison. The bilateral trade volume in 2019 amounted to 206 billion euros. The cooperation between the companies in both markets offers great opportunities, especially thanks to funding from the Chinese government.

Negatives

German industry is patent-intensive and reports a disproportionately large number of innovations compared to the number of companies. However, these are only subject to limited protection in the Chinese economic area. Patent theft is one of the main criticisms of the local companies.

Political level

Government level

The German-Chinese Rule of Law Dialogue is an agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany and the People's Republic of China . During a state visit to China in November 1999, Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder proposed such an agreement, which was then signed on June 30, 2000 between the Bureau for Legislative Affairs at the State Council and the Federal Ministry of Justice . Annual bilateral symposia and regular working meetings of specialist delegations took place in the ministries involved.

Publicity

Furthermore, the used Federal Republic of Germany , the Expo 2010 , the year of culture Chinah the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations in 2012 and other art exhibitions, to promote their own culture and tourism and to promote the exchange, resulting in the met with great interest from the Chinese public.

The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Berlin has been in existence since 2009 .

Higher education, undergraduate level

Also of importance is the Chinese-German University College ( CDHK for short ), it was founded in 1998 as a joint project of the DAAD and Tongji University in Shanghai . Thus, the CDHK sees itself as a bridge between the German and Chinese education systems and as a successful project in the exchange of knowledge between the two countries.

Erich Paulun

The Tongji University was founded in 1907 by the German physician Erich Paulun , so the university traditionally maintains numerous contacts with Germany. In 1993 the then Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl visited Shanghai in order to be ready for the first considerations of a joint university college. A joint contract between the DAAD and Tongji University sealed this idea in 1996, and German teaching began the following year. In 1998, teaching began for electrical engineering and economics. The CDHK building is located on the Siping campus of Tongji University on Chifeng Lu and was completed in 2002.

Higher education graduate level

The Sino-German Center for Science Promotion exists in the area of ​​research . It supports the academic exchange of graduates and joint research projects.

Cultural relations

The entertainment show “Tonight in Beijing” with Udo Jürgens was the first Sino-German television production. It was shown on August 1, 1987.

literature

For cooperation before the world wars

  • About the hopes of German industry for trade with China . In: Illustrirte Zeitung . No. 6 . J. J. Weber, Leipzig August 5, 1843, p. 87-88 ( Wikisource ).

On cooperation between the world wars

Web links

Commons : Sino-German relations  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

swell

  1. ^ Leibniz and China. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Library , accessed on December 6, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: The correspondence with the Jesuits in China (1689-1714) (=  Philosophical Library . No. 548 ). Felix Meiner, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-7873-1623-X .
  3. ↑ cit. according to West TV and the revolutionary upheaval in the GDR in autumn 1989 http://www.lars-bruecher.de/ddr_westmedien.htm#_ftn212
  4. ↑ Bundeszentrale f. Political education: collapse of the SED regime
  5. ↑ Diary of German Unity ( Memento of the original from January 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / vorsprung-durch-haben.de
  6. ^ Gunter Schubert: Gunter Schubert - The European Dimension of German-Taiwanese Relations. Lecture at the conference "The Role of France and Germany in Sino-European Relations" in Hong Kong July / August 2001 PDF
  7. ↑ Alexander Troche: Berlin is defended on the Mekong. The East Asian policy of the Federal Republic in China, Taiwan and South Vietnam 1954–1966. Düsseldorf 2001, p. 86.
  8. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from April 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.roc-taiwan.org
  9. ↑ Wolfgang Runge: Cooperation in Transition. 30 years of diplomatic relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the People's Republic of China. In: China Journal Issue 1. Deutsche China-Gesellschaft 德 中 协会, October 17, 2002, accessed on December 15, 2016 .
  10. ↑ China's strategy - also with company acquisitions. In: Deutsche Welle. May 22, 2018, accessed August 12, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Is China buying Bavaria's companies? July 3, 2019, accessed May 31, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Bernd Mewes: The Chinese invested a record amount in German companies. In: www.heise.de. January 24, 2018, accessed August 12, 2019 .
  13. ↑ 80 percent decline: China's companies are holding back expansion in Europe. In: www.businessinsider.de. August 12, 2019, accessed August 12, 2019 .
  14. ↑ a b c Gerald Traufetter, Christoph Schult, Peter Müller, Christiane Hoffmann, DER SPIEGEL: USA versus China: The Struggle of the Giants - and Merkel in the Middle - DER SPIEGEL - Politics. Accessed May 31, 2020 .
  15. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from August 22, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.germancentreshanghai.de
  16. ↑ http://www.germancentre.org.cn/
  17. ↑ CDHK History ( Memento of the original from October 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / cdhk.tongji.edu.cn
  18. ↑ Peking-Style , Die Zeit, August 7, 1987