The protest is great - but the chancellery is sticking to the entry of a Chinese state-owned company at a terminal in the port of Hamburg. A solution has apparently been found within the federal government. So the deal is smaller.
A compromise has apparently been found in the debate about the possible involvement of the Chinese state shipping company Cosco in a container terminal in the port of Hamburg. As the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" reports, the federal government will decide on a so-called partial refusal. According to this, the state-owned company should only be able to take over 24.9 percent of the Tollerort terminal instead of the 35 previously targeted. In return, the six ministries involved would give up their opposition to the action advocated by the Chancellery under the current Chancellor and former First Mayor of the Hanseatic city, Olaf Scholz. The SPD politician travels to Beijing at the beginning of November.
Cosco would only be given the role of a minority shareholder and would not be able to exert any formal influence on the management. It is still unclear whether the decision will be made in the cabinet this Wednesday or by circulation, the newspaper reports.
"The port of Hamburg is not just any port, but one of the key ports not only for us as an export nation, but for Europe as a whole," Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told the SZ in mid-October. With every investment in German critical infrastructure, the question must be asked "what that could mean at the moment when China would oppose us as a democracy and a community of values".
Meanwhile, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said that there had not yet been a decision on a possible veto. "Discussions are ongoing." When asked whether the entry of the Chinese with less than 25 percent instead of 35 percent would change anything, Hebestreit said he could not comment on individual cases. Chancellor Olaf Scholz said last Friday that the case had not yet been decided. "There are still many questions to be answered." The corresponding application will be carefully examined. Security interests always played a role.
At the same time, he admitted that the planned entry met with a lack of understanding from German alliance partners such as the USA, France and the Netherlands. The SZ quoted him as saying that the criticism leveled at the plans of Cosco and HHLA "should not simply be brushed off". Once again Scholz reminded that in Hamburg it is only about a minority stake in one of several terminals.
Union faction vice Jens Spahn meanwhile called for a special session of the Bundestag on ARD. There is a majority in the Bundestag against the deal, said Spahn. "We are ready to come together in the Bundestag this week and make a decision." According to the "Rheinische Post", the Union has requested special meetings of the Economic Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee for this week. Group Vice President Johann Wadephul said "a possible Chinese entry into the port of Hamburg could have a significant impact on Germany's national security".
The chairman of the Europe Committee in the Bundestag, Anton Hofreiter, said: "The EU states should agree that authoritarian states are not allowed to acquire any shares in critical infrastructure in Europe." The Green politician accused China of political influence after taking over the Greek port of Piraeus. The heavily indebted EU country sold the port during the 2016 debt crisis, also under pressure from EU countries like Germany to privatize. Since the purchase, the Greek government has "suddenly developed a strange understanding of Chinese positions" in EU debates, said Hofreiter.
