Merkel’s Beijing Visit and the ‘Great Mart’

German Chancellor Angela Merkel traveled to China on August 30 with the largest group of German business representatives to ever visit the nation. Nine ministers accompanied her, as the German and Chinese cabinets held one of their regular joint cabinet meetings.

During the visit, Merkel’s second this year, she met with her counterpart, Chinese President Hu Jintao, and his likely successor, Vice President Xi Jinping. The heads of German conglomerates such as Siemens, Volkswagen, ThyssenKrupp, basf and others were among the 24 corporate executives on the trip.

German officials praised the “special relationship” between China and Germany ahead of the visit. The Wall Street Journal notes that such a term is “usually reserved for close allies such as the U.S. or France.” China also appears to consider the relationship special: It holds regular cabinet meetings with no other nation.

Merkel is trying to boost trade between Europe and China as global economic growth has slowed. China is Germany’s fast-growing export market, with German exports to China having doubled between 2005 and 2011. Over the same period, German exports to the rest of the EU grew by only 24 percent.

“China is battling with the USA for the position as the most important market for Germany outside the EU,” President of the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry Hans Heinrich Driftmann said.

One of the several contracts signed during the visit was for China’s icbc Leasing to by 50 Airbus aircraft for $3.5 billion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrVOdyqMh-A&feature=youtu.be

Merkel seems to have succeeded in another key goal of the trip: allaying Beijing’s anxiety about Europe’s weighty government debts. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said that talking with Merkel left him “more confident” that the crisis would be solved, though he also said that indebted countries must “have the determination for reform.”

China is putting its money where its mouth is. They recently promised to loan $40 billion extra to the International Monetary Fund (imf).Spiegel Online describes the ulterior motive behind China’s support: “China also has an interest in the survival of the euro. In the long term, Beijing wants to establish its own currency, the renminbi, as the global reserve currency, next to the US dollar. It needs the euro to break the dominant position of the American currency in the long run. Thus, for as long as the Germans support the euro, the Chinese will also do so.”

This gets to the roots of the “special relationship” between China and Germany. Both have strong economic incentives for cooperation. But both also have a political interest in creating a strong axis that opposes the United States.

At its heart, this relationship is about America’s two biggest potential rivals building each other up in order to challenge the U.S.

China and Germany are two nations united by a common rival.

The Bible prophesied of this alliance hundreds of years ago. It is also forecast that this rivalry would be a great threat to America. The Bible talks specifically about a “mart” of nations, or an economic alliance between Europe and some Asian powers.

For more information on the earthshaking alliance that is rapidly congealing, read our article “The Great Mart.”