Scholz wants to sell part of the port of Hamburg to China – politicians are amazed at 5.3 billion turnover – record! How much electricity Swiss energy companies export

Frustration, misunderstanding and obvious disgust reigned in the traffic light coalition on Thursday morning. Probably never before has Chancellor Olaf Scholz received so much and so severe criticism from his own ranks.

“Who actually advises the Chancellor?” writes the German FDP defense politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann on Twitter. FDP Vice Johannes Vogel thinks: “We shouldn’t be so stupid.”

Green leader Ricarda Lang has “no understanding” for the chancellery. And even in the SPD, Scholz’s own party, faction leader and former train driver Detlef Müller, warns: “Watch out at the edge of the platform!”

The traffic light coalition is, it must be said, baffled to say the least. The reason: part of the port of Hamburg is being sold to a Chinese state company, NDR and WDR report. Several ministries had warned against this, but the chancellery apparently wants to enforce the deal anyway. In concrete terms, this concerns an interest of approximately 35 percent of the Chinese terminal operator Cosco in the Hamburger Terminal Tollerort.

Give China access to German infrastructure? In the main German port? In the midst of a global crisis with so much talk of dependence on totalitarian states? Apparently no one in the governing coalition understands that – except the chancellor.

The federal government’s geopolitical strategy is suddenly under discussion because of the intended activity in the port of Hamburg. Under no circumstances does the traffic light government want to repeat a mistake such as its reliance on Russia for energy supplies. An important lesson is to reduce dependence on China.

That is why the six ministers involved in the process reject the entry of the Chinese into the port of Hamburg, including Economics Minister Robert Habeck, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (both Greens) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner. (FDP).

A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs told t-online only this on Thursday morning: “The federal government has not yet made a decision. Federal Minister of Economic Affairs Habeck has always commented negatively on this.” The Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management said that it did not wish to comment, a spokesperson only referred to the “reason for this question” Ministry of Economic Affairs.

In fact, it wasn’t until Monday that the heads of German intelligence urgently warned of the dangers of a deal such as Scholz apparently envisions. At a hearing in the Bundestag, they emphasized the risk of China’s influence in Germany.

The chairman of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Thomas Haldenwang, said there had been “warning for quite some time” against allowing a situation where “the Chinese state could also influence political events in Germany through critical infrastructure” or in China “Opportunities for sabotage would also be opened.

Federal Intelligence Directorate Bruno Kahl noted: “We are very, very critical of China’s involvement in critical infrastructure.”

Nouripour: Shouldn’t make us even more dependent

The reactions of the government groups on Thursday are therefore clear. “If we put the lifelines of our economy in the wrong hands, we risk our sovereignty,” Green Leader Omid Nouripour warned.

“Selling shares in the Port of Hamburg to a Chinese company would be a repeat of a mistake,” Nouripour said. We must learn from our fatal dependence on Russian fossils and not make ourselves more dependent.” That is not good for our economy, nor for security.

“An important infrastructure such as the port of Hamburg should not be sold,” Green politician Anton Hofreiter told t-online. “We would be harming ourselves by doing that.” Hofreiter, chairman of the European Commission in the Bundestag, also warned against repeating mistakes made in dealing with Russia.

There was also strong criticism from the FDP. FDP Secretary General Bijan Djir-Sarai said on t-online: “The turning point also means that we must not repeat the mistakes of the past. Our country’s critical infrastructure does not belong in the hands of systemic rivals such as China.”

Reinhard Houben, the FDP’s economic policy spokesman, was also critical. “The joint vote of the six ministries against the sale must be recognized by the Chancellery,” Houben told t-online. As long as identical investment conditions with China are not guaranteed, the purchase may not be approved.

What moves Scholz?

Chancellor Olaf Scholz himself has not yet commented on the matter. A government spokesman had informed the NDR that the chancellery would not comment on the ongoing investment review proceedings “relating to the impact of business and trade secrets of the companies involved”.

According to information from t-online, the Chancellery says it is still waiting for reliable substantiation of the negative attitude of the Ministry of Economic Affairs. In fact, such a decision would likely lead to a legal battle with Cosco, in which the reasons would have to be explained.

However, German government circles also refer to the chancellor’s upcoming visit to China. The deadline for any federal government objection to the project is currently October 31. In theory it could be reversed.

But the date would fit: Scholz is expected in Beijing on November 4. With the green light for the investment project in Hamburg, the chancellor would bring a gift to the Chinese head of state and party leader Xi Jinping.

But Scholz won’t just worry about his baggage, of course. An important reason for the reluctance of the Chancellor’s office is probably the interests of the SPD in its old Hamburg home. Scholz himself was the first mayor of the Hanseatic city until 2018.

Scholz and the Hamburg Factor

When Scholz moved to the federal level, he made his longtime senator for finance Peter Tschentscher his successor. Scholz is still very much connected to Hamburg, he still has an apartment there and knows the political discussion through and through.

And that’s pretty clear with the port’s China deal: As early as mid-September, Peter Tschentscher warned Federal Economy Minister Habeck, who had expressed his skepticism, in clear terms: “A rejection would put a heavy burden on the site location and a unilaterally anti-competitive disadvantage compared to Hamburg, Rotterdam and Antwerp, where Cosco already owns terminal shares.”

So a purely economic project? In any case, Tschentscher dismissed all concerns at the time. With a minority stake in the operating company for one of the container terminals, “no strategic influence or access to the port infrastructure is connected,” he assured. The port as a whole will remain 100 percent with the Port of Hamburg. This is also emphasized in the Chancellery.

However, experts like the director of the Global Public Policy Institute, Thorsten Benner, see things very differently. “Cosco is a pearl of Chinese state capitalism and a direct tool of the party state,” Benner wrote on Twitter. “It is intended to make a profit while serving China’s global ambitions, if necessary as a means of exerting political pressure.”

In Hamburg, China is already the largest customer – which could possibly exert even more pressure with a participation.

(t-online.de)