After months of dispute, the federal government has decided to release a minority stake by Cosco in the Tollerort terminal in Hamburg. The BDI thinks that’s a good thing, but some politicians don’t.
The Federation of German Industries (BDI) has welcomed the German government’s approval of the Chinese state-owned company Cosco’s entry into a Hamburg container terminal. “The federal government’s decision to release the minority stake is good for Germany as an investment location and as an import and export country,” said BDI Managing Director Tanja Gönner on Thursday. The economic competitiveness and technological sovereignty of Germany and the EU required fundamental openness to foreign investments, including from China.
China is the largest trading partner of Germany and the Port of Hamburg. “The participation strengthens the cooperation between the partners and the competitiveness of the port and the logistics location and thus of the industrial nation of Germany,” emphasized Gönner. It is reasonable to expand economic relations with China – even with increasing geopolitical tensions. “The triad of China introduced by the EU Commission in 2019 and reinforced in the coalition agreement as a competitor and system rival, but also as a partner, is the right approach.”
After months of dispute, the federal government decided on Wednesday, in accordance with a cabinet decision made last October, to release a minority stake held by Cosco Shipping Ports Ltd (CSPL) in Terminal Tollerort (CTT) of a maximum of 24.99 percent. Cosco originally wanted to take over 35 percent of the operating company. However, several federal ministries had protested against this. Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) was relieved about the decision and emphasized that the CTT could now be expanded into a preferred transhipment point for long-standing HHLA customer Cosco, where cargo flows between Asia and Europe would be concentrated.
Sharp criticism from the Greens and the CDU
The government’s approval has met with sharp criticism from the Greens government faction and the CDU opposition. “It was wrong, it is wrong and it will remain wrong,” said Green economic politician Felix Banaszak to the “Handelsblatt” (Thursday). It is a mistake that Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is preventing a new investment review process. “In the case of the Chancellor, misunderstood Hamburg local patriotism is mixed with a foreign trade policy that has learned nothing from the fatal mistakes in dealing with Russia.” Scholz was Hamburg’s mayor before moving to Berlin.
CDU security politician Roderich Kiesewetter was similarly critical. “Since the intelligence services and other ministries have issued massive warnings against the sale of shares in the port terminal to Cosco, the whole thing looks a lot more like the Chancellor going it alone on his China-political aberration,” said the vice-chairman of the secret service control committee in the Bundestag the “Handelsblatt”. Germany must finally learn from the mistakes it has made towards the autocracy of Russia.
Source: Stern
