Unpopular Scholz Goes to China: Trade War and Ukraine War Collide
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the least popular German leader in many decades, has just made his longest bilateral foreign visit since he came to power, to China.
The Chinese did their usual humbling of an adversarial Foreign Leader by sending the deputy mayor of Chongqing – not even the mayor himself – to meet him, in a clear sign of contempt.
Scholz visit had a mixture of economic pragmatism with the old and frankly tired Ukrainian lobby.
Scholz was accompanied on his trip by senior German executives, including from Mercedes-Benz and BMW, in a demonstration of the importance that the Chinese market holds to Europe’s largest economy.
But while he lobbied for better market access for German firms in China,
