Staking out its claims on every continent with its sprawling belt and Road Initiative impacting how most every country does business officials in beijing a setting the Global Standards in tech they drawing up their own treaties and deals and theyve got the upper hand with an immense amount of financial firepower but chinas also highly secretive bad restrictive the question is is china more of a partner old rival. President xi jinping has promised time and again to open his mammoth economy to the world to lead an International Investment and allow for a level Playing Field german executives ive spoken to say its going in the other direction they say chinese officials clamping down on foreign firms more than ever china and the European Union have been hammering out a comprehensive agreement on investment for 7 years now but after multiple rounds of negotiations theyve basically got no way. The skyscrapers a friend high have all been built in the past 30 years. Almost all the big German Companies have an office in this business metropolis but some are starting to get nervous. 5000 German Companies operating in China Business is good but for how long the German Chamber of commerce in beijing has confirmed that German Companies are increasingly worried. The 1st issue is Market Access is asymmetrical access to the Chinese Market. A 2nd point is the Regulatory Environment and the 3rd point is obvious protecting intellectual Property Rights and finally a big concern these days is digitalisation and the Free Exchange of information and the Digital World. To get a hold. In chinas Digital World no one is really free beijing monitors its internet and Messenger Services like we chat for years now Foreign Companies in china have been required to store their data on chinese servers and the socalled social Credit System uses big data and Artificial Intelligence to monitor the behavior of its citizens and its companies. Why do western Companies Put up with that. For example western Companies Still have to form joint ventures with Chinese Companies. Germans can own 49 percent of the joint venture but the chinese retain the majority stake. A well known example is fox wagon which has been partners with a Chinese Automotive Company s. A. I. C. Since 1988 the joint venture requirement means the transfer of technology is almost mandatory to build in china a company has to make its know how Available Technology and systems have to be exported to china the reward is access to the Chinese Market but not to all markets theres a list of approved sectors thats updated regularly teef list is negative and just as the register of the Chinese Government uses to control what types of Foreign Investment are allowed into the country. And the slant. On the list is used to limit which industries these companies can invest and. In the spirit of currently the prohibited industries include medical Technology Environmental technology and aerospace the negative list includes 33 industries that are closed to Foreign Investment. Do the 300 Chinese Companies in germany have similar problems to deal with other negative lists here the Chinese Chamber of commerce in germany deflects the question. Of course we value the partnership between germany and china very highly and this Political Security is very important for us we are entrepreneurs of course we invest here we want to earn money here and do good business. Good business its something that German Companies are also doing in china but 44 percent of them want to see more fairness a call. Adding to an Anonymous Survey by the German Chamber of commerce in beijing why isnt anyone willing to say that on camera. Targets is no end of the day to station the economy here so closely interwoven from the point of view of German Companies its sometimes better to address things behind closed doors rather than speak out publicly. And theres a lot to lose of all the cars it produced in the 1st half of 2020 v. W. Sold over 40 percent in china b. M. W. Sold 34 percent and dima which makes most eightys sold 33 percent that. No other western industrial country has become as dependent on china as germany. This is especially true in the auto industry. Only a few German Companies have left china like model train maker met leaving the company moved back to germany because production costs were too high and the quality too low. But that was 10 years ago. Looking at real trains is much more revealing chinese high speed trains are as good as their european counterparts much of the technology was copied from european trains made by siemens and storm which are also built in china those companies shared their know how with that chinese partners now the copies are challenging the originals on the European Market on the one side is the gigantic state company subsidized with millions of euros and on the other private companies from europe. Since 2013 the e. U. And china have held over 30 meetings to negotiate an Investment Protection agreement so far without results. In a 3 way relationship between china the us and the european you. Yes theres only one way germany can play a role and thats if the e. U. Is firm and united in representing its interests feasibly china and the united states. With offical. Germany is chinas most important trading partner in europe. Do you have anything from china you know what i have in my hand my cell phone air pods i think my computer is from china to the knowhow i think it is from china you know they are safe yes definitely half my stuff comes from china you know coronavirus its where corolla started no one thinks about where it comes from anymore. The corona virus did 1st appear in china and china took its time letting the world in on it the Chinese Communist party brutally suppressed the warnings coming from its citizens. Experts agree that if paging had reacted faster it wouldnt have become a worldwide pandemic. But coronavirus pandemic has weakened the worlds trust in china. Chinas factories deliver products to the entire world but its a police state that brutally beat down the Democracy Movement in hong kong. Is it possible to do business with a country like that. How can you do business with a country thats built large concentration camps in shin junk province to attain we go to. European companies have to ask themselves who ends up paying the price for doing business in china thats also a factor in the Investment Protection agreement our European Investments really save even if europeans demand more fairness and support for human rights more and more people are beginning to put trade between the e. U. And china to the test. And what about europes biggest economy germany a nation reliant on its exports the chinese make up a huge bag. For machinery cars and Premium Products made or designed by germans companies that have a lot of this that in the asian powerhouse insist there is only one china but does the german economic or German Economy really rely on the chinese to the extent that some economists would have you believe. As far as to im with you its wrong to say that were dependent on china on its own. If we look at the economic numbers german exports to china are to around 7 percent as important. Is considered one of the sharpest critics in germany of chinese economic policies of course he is aware that 7 percent of all exports represents a huge portion of the economy. In 29000 it was 96000000000 euro but german says in europe around 10 times that around 903000000000 exports to the us 419000000000 euros. Many jobs are we creating in china does this mean that. There are varying estimates but its definitely at least a 1000000 and were only talking about jobs directly related to manufacturing. And if you take into account all the supplier jobs and Service Industry jobs then its a lot more now as a moment so its time to apply pressure to say were creating jobs in china we dont have to put up with everything else. Im fully convinced that we could take a much stronger position towards china because in fact china needs German Companies especially right now. They need German Technology and jobs much more urgently than we need china. You know. The chinese economy has returned to growth despite the pandemic but National Debt has been increasing for years. In 2019 it reached around 56 percent of gross domestic product. Chinas g. D. P. Has almost tripled in the last 10 years its jet ratio is still rising alarmingly. At the end of october the Party Leadership wants to toast the agreement of a new 5 year. This is a framework for the distribution of work and money under the communist government. It also determines how much the economy should grow and which companies the chinese may trade with. Me expect from this 5 year plan. It depends on how the chinese see globalization and how china sees its interdependence in the area of Technological Development and well see whether china relies more on National Technological sovereignty or whether it relies on International Interdependence and the partnerships with europe and the us problem do you think as with the mission with bae and i know its going to be a mixture of both but under she we have to expect a stronger focus on techno nationalism and the temptation will be very strong for china to be more selfsufficient and independent when it comes to innovation that will make life more difficult for german and European Companies there. As for the u. S. The white house is no longer ruling out a complete break with china but 1st President Donald Trump impose billions in customs duties on goods imported from china now washington is quite openly talking about decoupling the American Economy from the chinese one. I think we have to say goodbye to the idea that everything is becoming more interdependent and globalized were in a day globalization phase at the same time its also clear that we cant just push ahead blindly and assume that the situation is going to stay the way it has been and for German Companies that means facing some difficult choices. Well germany may not be as dependent as you think on china as an export market but the coronavirus has highlighted how dependent multinational corporations and many other Small Businesses are on chinese suppliers spare parts Raw Materials manufacturing and very important right now ingredients for pharmaceuticals as the virus spread abroad and its neighbors close their borders to china whole supply chains fell apart it also hurt the chinese economy as factories closed and people were forced to stay home now things are gradually returning to normal. The beginning of a. Travel season or on national day most people get to or its a high point for beijings cultural. City which hosts 14000000. 00 tourists a year. It is also the 1st National Day Holiday since the outbreak of corbett 19 just over half a year ago beijing city center looked very different during the winter beijings heritage sites were shut down because of the epidemic travel restrictions were in place in the whole country. d this is usually a bustling commercial street lots of souvenir shops not shops tourists who visit beijing usually come to spend time here today im the only one. And this is what the same things like the late. China has brought the epidemic under control there are virtually no more domestic transmission and people are enjoying a return to life. So theyve got. To have the knowledge of. The land that they are you so that i dont see all. The time that theyre not aware that. There are still measures in place people have to use a health and scan the code to register at certain locations tourist sites have limited visitor numbers estimates put the number of tourists in china during this season that 550000000 people that would be 2 thirds of last years figure. That i started yesterday. That. You know were going to. Know that. Chinas economy has returned to positive growth Government Spending on infrastructure and construction has brought workers back into the city. The growth is still a lot. Slower than in previous years private consumption you specially is we are going behind companies have cut wages and council bonuses for the employees in downtown beijing the traces of the past 6 months are still visible. Businesses have been hit hard by this crisis many have little to no income for months and months on many shops and restaurants have to shut down experts have long warned of chinas imbalance growth too much investment and today it will consumption hoovered 19 has made these warnings ever more urgent. China has a history of ambitious projects the great wall of china the silk road and now its new silk road officially known as the belt Road Initiative its the largest Infrastructure Project ever seen the transport Energy Mining i. T. And communications projects spanned the globe and even reach into outer space the original so proud basing quaint according to todays standards but the fact is it paved the way to where we are now. A brief history of the silk road 6400 kilometers searing 50 degree celsius heat the bitter cold of 40 below across steps deserts and high mountains with the constant threat of armed bandits. The silk road a perilous challenge the bones of pack animals litter the wing as if in morning. But the worlds oldest and most important trade route was not a single road it was a vast network of many caravan routes. By the 2nd century b. C. E. The silk road connected china to the roman empire. The term silk road was popularized in 1987 by german geographer fed in unfunded leached often. Silk was highly sought after by roman women. But only the chinese knew how to produce the valuable textile. The 2 year long trip with up to 1000. 00 bactrian camels was worth it they didnt just carry silk but also spices lacquers furs and porcelain. In return europe sent gold gem stones and glass. Inventions too such as paper and black gunpowder were spread and even with legends were transmitted buddhism arrived in china and japan by way of the silk road. Cities along the silk road flourished and some are primed and tashkent there was a rumor in train. Most merchants only travelled short distances then sold their wares to the next buyers this made the goods more expensive but diseases were also transmitted along the trade routes like the plague which killed a 3rd of europes population in the 14th century. The demise of the silk road began mainly because it was replaced by new maritime brutes customs duties and bandits could be avoided and reach their destinations more quickly. And today chinas new silk road is expected to cost a trillion euros but that gigantic Infrastructure Project is not about reviving the glories of. Its purely a shrewd economic investment. And that brings us to the controversy this initiative is the centerpiece of president Foreign Policy its a clever way of locking in future markets for chinese goods and services but also a risky way of keeping countries on the drip of a financial lifeline the. Developing economies since the. Several have applied for debt for life however before taking things too far governments might want to consider chinas human rights record and its green credentials. A gigantic construction site part of a highway said to run 170 kilometers across montenegro financed with the help of a 1000000000 euro loan from china this stretch of construction is along the Charles River part of a unesco World Heritage site some environmental activists say the decision to build here was a mistake there had been 18 alternatives to peter king but the steps meant and why is that we agree a great question none of these is just considering that he says you know the site and some other of it all felt in addition be taken point at either. The tower or river gorge is one of the deepest in europe the ri