Germany’s new China strategy to result in ‘risks’

Germany's tougher new approach to managing its relationship with China would increase "man-made risks" and "exacerbate divisions" in the world, Beijing said yesterday.

The 64-page strategy, adopted on Thursday by officials in Berlin who said it was formulated in response to a "more assertive" China, has already drawn the ire of Beijing.

"We believe that competition and protectionism in the name of 'de-risking' and reducing dependence entirely securitises and politicises normal cooperation," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a regular press briefing.

Wang said that the move would "only produce the opposite of the intended result, creating man-made risks".