On October 28, according to the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin announced: At the invitation of Premier Li Keqiang of the State Council, German Federal Chancellor Scholz will pay an official visit to China on November 4.
According to a previous report by the Global Times, this is the first EU leader to visit China since November 2019.
Reuters reported that Scholz would lead a delegation of business leaders to China, and a spokesman for the German Chancellery said the visit would take place in early November.
"No one said we had to leave China, we couldn't export there, we couldn't invest there, we couldn't import from there," Scholz said, according to the Associated Press.
In addition, according to the World Wide Web on October 26, citing foreign media reports, on the morning of the 26th local time, the German cabinet meeting approved COSCO Group's acquisition of the Container Terminal Tollerort in the Port of Hamburg held by the German terminal operator Hamburg Port and Logistics AG (HHLA). (hereinafter referred to as "CTT Terminal") 24.9% equity.
According to Yicai, the reporter saw from the HHLA official website that the above news was published in a prominent position on the homepage of the official website. Angela Titzrath, chairman of HHLA, welcomed the decision of the German federal government and said that further communication with COSCO Shipping will be conducted in a timely manner.
According to public information, in September 2021, COSCO SHIPPING Ports, a subsidiary of COSCO SHIPPING Group, said it planned to acquire a 35% stake in the CTT Terminal in the Port of Hamburg, Germany for 65 million euros. For more than a year, the German federal government has disagreed about this acquisition, and there has even been news that it will veto the acquisition. However, the German Chancellor's Office and the local government of Hamburg have always resisted all opinions and chose to stand on the side of the German business community, intending to promote the completion of the acquisition by the end of October.
The CTT terminal is one of HHLA's three container terminals in the Port of Hamburg, with four berths and 14 overhead cranes capable of serving 20,000 TEU vessels. The terminal has its own five rail transport tracks, and the transport station serves the interior of all parts of Europe.
The Port of Hamburg, built in 1189, is the traditional and most important material transfer station in northern Europe. The Port of Hamburg has four Germany's most advanced container terminals and three cruise terminals. It is the first in Germany and the third largest in Europe. The CTA terminal is empowered by 5G.
Due to the advanced loading and unloading equipment, high degree of mechanization and automation in the port, the Port of Hamburg is also known as "Germany's gateway to the world" and "Europe's fastest transshipment port", especially in terms of container sea-rail combined transportation, Anker said. , each terminal is equipped with complete railway infrastructure, so railway transportation is efficient.
One third of Hamburg's current throughput comes from trade between China and Europe. The latest container throughput data released by the Port of Hamburg shows that in the first half of 2022, the container throughput of the Port of Hamburg reached 4.4 million TEUs. In terms of trade with China, the Port of Hamburg handled a total of 1.3 million TEUs, a year-on-year increase of 5.8%. %, ranking first among the major trading partners of the Port of Hamburg, the United States (291,000 TEU) and Singapore (218,000 TEU) ranked second and third respectively.
Some German media commented that the port of Hamburg has further consolidated its status as "the largest port for Sino-European trade" because the total number of containers with China far exceeds that of other ports in Europe.
According to Yicai, Pan Hua, chief representative of the Hamburg Liaison Office in China, told reporters that the Port of Hamburg has always been an important hub and distribution center for Chinese goods to Europe. "One out of every three containers in the Port of Hamburg is from or destined for China." She said, "This announcement is not only the result of the efforts of all parties, but also a result acceptable to all parties. It's a win-win result."
Professor Wu Huiping, deputy director of the German Research Center of Tongji University, believes that the final success of this acquisition is good news. "It shows that German Chancellor Scholz is relatively stable and pragmatic in developing relations with China. He resisted the pressure to push forward the acquisition case, which shows that he hopes to continue the pragmatic cooperation between China and Germany, and also injects stability into China-Germany relations. She said that before becoming the German chancellor, Scholz served as the mayor of Hamburg for seven years, during which time he supported the city of Hamburg to develop trade with China. "He still has a very good understanding of the local economic development in Hamburg."
At the regular press conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on October 26, a reporter asked a question about the acquisition of the German port of Hamburg by the Chinese-funded COSCO Group. It was reported that various departments of the German federal government were considering allowing Chinese investors to take 24.9% of the shares instead of the original plan. In this regard, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that cooperation is mutually beneficial. It is hoped that relevant parties will view China-Germany pragmatic cooperation rationally and stop unreasonable speculation.
October 31 is the deadline for the deal to be reached. Relevant German law stipulates that if the government does not pass a resolution prohibiting the transaction or extending the deadline by the end of the deadline, the transaction is legally deemed to be done automatically.
Reuters reported that German Chancellor Scholz responded on the 27th local time to the German government's approval of the German government's approval of the Chinese company COSCO to hold shares in the "Blessed" container terminal in the Port of Hamburg, emphasizing that Europe needs to ensure the diversification of relations to avoid being overly dependent on a certain one. nation. Reuters also said that Scholz believed that the decision to allow Chinese investors to take a stake in the Port of Hamburg was "good and correct."
According to reports, Scholz made the above remarks at a joint press conference held in Athens and Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis on the same day. Scholz also said, "Those who have not thought about this issue carefully for a long time are now considering this issue based on the development of the global situation." Reuters said he made this when asked about relations with China. A statement.
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