Politicians and experts push for reduced reliance on Beijing as Berlin ‘would not and could not evade’ economic fallout of Taiwan invasion

A poll suggests that Germans who get their news from TikTok, rather than traditional media, are less critical of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It comes amid a debate over shutting down the Chinese platform in the US.

Germans who get their news through TikTok are less likely to see China as a dictatorship, be less critical of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and be more sceptical about climate change and the utility of vaccines than consumers of other media.

China is said to be eyeing up German automotive factories heading for closure, in a bid to grow its influence within the heart of European car manufacturing.

In response to a media inquiry about German prosecutors indicting three people on suspicion of spying for China by obtaining information about military technology, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said China consistently adheres to the principles of mutual respect and non-interference in internal affairs in the development of China-Germany relations.

Germany's top-end carmakers took a battering at home and in China in 2024, sales volume data showed, as wealthier consumers held back on purchases amid an uncertain economy and on slower than expected electric vehicle sales.

China’s vast exports in 2024 exceeded its imports on a scale seldom seen anywhere except during or immediately after the two world wars.

An industrial welding robot of Siasun Robot and Automation Co Ltd is seen at Hannover Messe 2024 in Hannover, Germany, April 22, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua] TIANJIN - China held 156 exhibition projects in Germany in 2024, making the European nation the country ...

Visitors spend their leisure time at a coffee shop in the Hongmei cultural and creative industry park, which is transformed from an old factory, in Tiexi District of Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, Nov. 30, 2024. (Xinhua/Sun Ruibo)

Beijing warned Germany on Friday to stop "hyping up" spying risks a day after prosecutors there charged three people suspected of supplying technological information to Chinese intelligence.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump held their first phone talks in four years Friday. According to Trump, he spoke with Xi about TikTok, just hours before the Supreme upheld a law set to ban the social media platform in the United States in less than 48 hours.

India and China will continue to drive global economic growth in the next two years, while the United States could also benefit from a more neoliberal approach by the new administration. But Germany is lagging behind.