A Certain Smile

On the street where I live, there are two houses of student fraternities, one opposite my apartment, the other just next door. It is nice to see so many young people around, though noise levels are sometimes high when they party in their gardens on warm summer nights. As some sort of compensation and in the spirit of good neighborliness, we, the adjacent residents, are invited to most of their events. Red Baron usually finds one or two exciting topics when reading their semester program.

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 activities 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.

Note Teutonia's flag behind the speaker:
Voran und beharrlich für Freiheit, Ehre, Vaterland!
(Ahead and persistent for freedom, honor, fatherland)

And so was Ambassador Shi Mingde. Rumors have it that China sent its best man to Germany in 2012. Indeed, His Excellency was excellent in his presentation and spoke excellent German. In his younger years, he served as ambassador to East Germany and witnessed the disappearance of the GDR. He said their way to socialism was doomed because the GDR lacked reforms. 

Taking this as a bad example, China sought and found its own way to integrate a market economy into communism, a combination that has led to yearly double-digit economic growth rates over the last 35 years. When China began its economic development, the average annual income per capita was US$200. It is now around US$ 9,000, while for Germany the figure is U$ 43,000. China's gross domestic product is currently 10 billion U$, while that of the United States is 18 billion, but keep in mind that one-fifth of the world's 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 colonial powers in the 19th century, but was 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 is still a developing country with 40 million people living below the poverty line. For China, fundamental human rights include providing sufficient food and decent housing for all its citizens. The economic situation in China's inland regions must still be improved, while economic development in China's coastal regions is rapidly shifting toward 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, oppose protectionism, and cooperate on global economic development. There are currently 2800 German firms active in China and 2000 Chinese enterprises working in Germany.

Regarding energy, Ambassador Mingde admitted that China still relies too heavily on coal. China produces only 8% of its electricity from renewable energy, but will increase the share to 15%, while in 2015, Germany produced 32% of its electricity from wind and sun. To lower CO₂ emissions by 40% and at the same time fight smog in China's cities, the country will reduce coal burning while increasing the current share of nuclear energy, which is only 2%, by building new nuclear power stations. This will certainly not please his audience in Freiburg, Ambassador Mingde said. Still, the progress in replacing coal with renewable energy alone is too slow to meet China's electricity needs. Although Germany will phase out its nuclear reactors by 2022, he added, it still produces 18% of its electricity from 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 pressed the button on my iPhone, I noticed a red distance-measuring flash from a nearby digital camera, spoiling my shot. Here is my photo of Ambassador Mingde, in which the red color is nothing more 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 being only a minor problem. While China has so far 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, representatives of the Chinese government 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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