The Burschenschaft Teutonia started the winter semester 2016/17 on October 22 with a highlight. For two days, the Chinese ambassador was their guest of honor. His Excellency Shi Mingde wanted to learn about the activity of German fraternities. While granting just one hour for Freiburg and Mayor Salomon to sign the city's Golden Book, he lived with the fraternity students from Saturday afternoon to Sunday noon. He opened "his" program by speaking at the Teutonia fraternity house about Die Rolle Chinas in der Weltpolitik, Einblicke in die Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft Chinas (China's role in world politics, Insights into China's politics, economy, and society.
Red Baron entered the neighboring building somewhat early. He had lots of time to talk to the Teutonia Aktivitas (students active in the fraternity) and their Alte Herren (former student members). Many of the "old boys" had come to listen to Shi Mingde from far away, e.g., Delmenhorst, a small town near the port city of Bremen.
His Excellency was welcomed by the Erstchargierter der Aktivitas (head of the active fraternity) and by the chairman of the union of former fraternity students. Both speakers emphasized that Teutonians are cosmopolitan and liberal-minded.
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| Note Teutonia's flag behind the speaker: Voran und beharrlich für Freiheit, Ehre, Vaterland! (Ahead and persistent for freedom, honor, fatherland) |
Taking this as a bad example, China sought and found its own way of integrating the market economy into communism, a combination that led to yearly double-digit economic growth rates over the last 35 years. When China started its economic development, the average annual income per capita was U$ 200. It is now around U$ 9000 while for Germany the figure is U$ 43,000. China's gross domestic product presently is 10 billion U$ while that of the States is 18 billion but keep in mind that one-fifth of the world population is Chinese.
Ambassador Mingde did not want to talk about China as a world power. He said that his country had been a world power before it was subdued by the colonial powers in the 19th century, but it became liberated in 1949. When asked about human rights, he defined them as the right to eat and to be housed. While Germany has a "wealth problem," China still is a developing country with 40 million people living below the poverty line. For China, fundamental human rights consist in providing enough food and decent housing for all its citizens. The economic situation in China's inland must still be improved while the economic development in China's coastal regions is rapidly moving in the direction of quality rather than quantity.
The relations between Germany and China are excellent, for they have much in common. The two countries rely on growth through innovation, are against protectionism, and cooperate in the economic development of the world. There are currently 2800 German firms active in China and 2000 Chinese enterprises working in Germany.
Concerning energy, Ambassador Mingde admitted that China still depends too much on coal. China produces only 8% of its electricity from renewable energies but will increase the share to 15%, while in Germany in 2015, the percentage of electricity produced by wind and sun was 32%. To lower CO2 emissions by 40% and at the same time fight smog in China's cities, the country will reduce the burning of coal but increase the present share of only 2% of nuclear energy by building new nuclear power stations. This will certainly not please his audience in Freiburg, Ambassador Mingde said. Still, the progress of replacing coal with renewable energy alone is too slow to satisfy China's needs for electricity. Although Germany will phase out its nuclear reactors by 2022, he added, it still produces 18% of its electricity by nuclear power compared with 70% in France.
In the discussion, Ambassador Mingde said that Chinese firms sometimes find it difficult to demand overtime from their German staff due to their well-being, while Chinese people are highly motivated. At present, 35000 ambitious Chinese students are studying in Germany.
When the much-applauded ambassador left the lecture hall, I tried to get a close-up photo. When I pushed the button on my iPhone, I noticed a red distance-measuring flash from another digital camera nearby, spoiling my shot. Here is my photo of Ambassador Mingde, where the red color is nothing else than a technical artifact.
PS: For mutual investments and settlements of firms, it is not all roses between China and Germany, with the aforementioned difference in work ethic only being a minor problem. While so far, China has used its enormous foreign exchange reserves unhampered investing in German high technology firms, German investors in China are facing restrictions when buying Chinese company shares. A few days ago, when our minister of economics visiting China touched on the subject, China's government representatives were annoyed. Nothing serious. In the era of globalization, Ambassador Mingde said in his talk that we all depend on each other. I cannot imagine how German car manufacturers would do without the Chinese market. Are we open to blackmail?
Ambassador Mingde did not want to talk about China as a world power. He said that his country had been a world power before it was subdued by the colonial powers in the 19th century, but it became liberated in 1949. When asked about human rights, he defined them as the right to eat and to be housed. While Germany has a "wealth problem," China still is a developing country with 40 million people living below the poverty line. For China, fundamental human rights consist in providing enough food and decent housing for all its citizens. The economic situation in China's inland must still be improved while the economic development in China's coastal regions is rapidly moving in the direction of quality rather than quantity.
The relations between Germany and China are excellent, for they have much in common. The two countries rely on growth through innovation, are against protectionism, and cooperate in the economic development of the world. There are currently 2800 German firms active in China and 2000 Chinese enterprises working in Germany.
Concerning energy, Ambassador Mingde admitted that China still depends too much on coal. China produces only 8% of its electricity from renewable energies but will increase the share to 15%, while in Germany in 2015, the percentage of electricity produced by wind and sun was 32%. To lower CO2 emissions by 40% and at the same time fight smog in China's cities, the country will reduce the burning of coal but increase the present share of only 2% of nuclear energy by building new nuclear power stations. This will certainly not please his audience in Freiburg, Ambassador Mingde said. Still, the progress of replacing coal with renewable energy alone is too slow to satisfy China's needs for electricity. Although Germany will phase out its nuclear reactors by 2022, he added, it still produces 18% of its electricity by nuclear power compared with 70% in France.
In the discussion, Ambassador Mingde said that Chinese firms sometimes find it difficult to demand overtime from their German staff due to their well-being, while Chinese people are highly motivated. At present, 35000 ambitious Chinese students are studying in Germany.
When the much-applauded ambassador left the lecture hall, I tried to get a close-up photo. When I pushed the button on my iPhone, I noticed a red distance-measuring flash from another digital camera nearby, spoiling my shot. Here is my photo of Ambassador Mingde, where the red color is nothing else than a technical artifact.
PS: For mutual investments and settlements of firms, it is not all roses between China and Germany, with the aforementioned difference in work ethic only being a minor problem. While so far, China has used its enormous foreign exchange reserves unhampered investing in German high technology firms, German investors in China are facing restrictions when buying Chinese company shares. A few days ago, when our minister of economics visiting China touched on the subject, China's government representatives were annoyed. Nothing serious. In the era of globalization, Ambassador Mingde said in his talk that we all depend on each other. I cannot imagine how German car manufacturers would do without the Chinese market. Are we open to blackmail?
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