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Germany
OpinionComment
Thomas O. Falk
Thomas O. Falk

Opinion | Germany’s national security strategy is not a paradigm shift on China

  • Taken at face value, the strategy offers a welcome dose of reality, but the lack of specificity and the repetition of mantras suggests it heralds little change
  • Instead, Germany appears content to continue the Sino-German status quo while trying to appease the US with harsh criticism of China

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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (right) shakes hands with Chinese Premier Li Qiang during their meeting in Berlin on Tuesday. Li chose Germany as the first stop of his inaugural overseas trip as premier. Photo: Bloomberg
Thomas O. Falk
Germany has unveiled its new national security strategy, but those who expected a fundamental paradigm shift in the country’s security architecture were disappointed as Berlin remains vague on pivotal issues. Despite some harsh rhetoric, Sino-German relations are unlikely to change significantly.
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz praised the strategy as a significant change. Driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the future of Sino-German relations, international pressure has mounted on Berlin to stop being reactive and become more proactive in addressing threats on the global stage.

Taken at face value, the strategy offers a welcome dose of reality. The German government openly addresses the fact that for the foreseeable future, Europe’s security will have to be defended against – and not with – Russia, while China is clearly cast as a threat to global security that warrants economic and political de-risking.

However, as is so often the case, the devil is in the detail. For example, referring to the issues of development cooperation, cybersecurity and the protection of supply chains, Scholz said the plan involved “meshing together all means and instruments to strengthen Germany’s security against external threats”. However, he did not explain exactly how Germany aims to achieve this.

Instead, it sounded more like a mere repetition of his commitments during his Zeitenwende speech in February 2022. The proclamation that Russia has become the “greatest threat to peace and security in the Euro-Atlantic region” for the foreseeable future falls under the same premise.

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‘Everything that helps Ukraine’: German Defence Minister visits Leopard 2 tank brigade

‘Everything that helps Ukraine’: German Defence Minister visits Leopard 2 tank brigade
It is also regrettable that the coalition parties in the government could not agree on establishing a National Security Council like that of the United States. Such a body would not only have been able to coordinate foreign and security policy decisions and assume operational control in crises, it could also have reviewed the implementation of the document. In the end, though, the Green Party-led Foreign Office feared losing influence if the council was housed under the chancellory.
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