German domestic politics and China: An examination of possible new dynamics in the German-Chinese relationship

Abstract

In the setting of a new German government, with another party constellation and the accompanying intentional changes, this paper investigates how the German government incorporates international and domestic factors in establishing German-Chinese strategic narratives. The research provides fundamental knowledge into long-standing German-Chinese relations. This arises in a methodological elaboration on the selection of the German government as the main actor and its newly published coalition agreement, along with the two subordinate actors the European Union and the German population, of which official statements and quantified opinion polls are investigated. In an effort to extract the relevant data from the documents, the concept of coding is applied and altered to address the requirements of this research. In order to underpin the explanation of new dynamics in the German-Chinese relationship, the theory of strategic narratives is consulted. Therefore, through the theoretical approach, the analysis is structured into three levels, thus illustrating two influencing factors on domestic decision-making and the subsequent foreign policy actions with respect to China that affect the international community: first, the international context is examined, which consists of instruments of the European Union pushing for European sovereignty; subsequently, the sentiment among the German public, which argue for the preservation of human rights in China in addition to sovereignty; and finally, the synthesis of the two factors is examined concerning the final decision-making in conjunction with the formation of a German narrative determined to China. In doing so, the paper identifies that the German government is balancing the characteristics of both contexts of the maintenance of its political legitimacy by persuading the German public of its approaches while not losing its public credibility. Lastly, this research concludes that German-Chinese relations will not change significantly, although the German government will act more sovereignly and independently towards China during the current legislative period due to dependencies and increasing competition, however, this is consequently not a strategic approach.

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A master thesis from Aalborg University

German domestic politics and China: An examination of possible new dynamics in the German-Chinese relationship