Deutsche und französische Chinapolitik 1989 bis 1997 im Vergleich

Abstract

The article compares the policies of Germany and France towards the People's Republic of China (PRC) since the violent repression of the Chinese students’ movement at Tian'anmen Square in June of 1989. In the case of both Germany and France, a continuous and substantial shift from a value-oriented policy towards a mainly economically driven China policy can be detected in the 1990s. Despite the formulation of a number of European Union (EU) strategy papers dealing with Asia and also explicitly with China between 1994 and 1996, the similarity between German and French policy towards China in the 1990s has not increased the perspectives for a more united European approach towards the "Middle Kingdom". The fundamentally different notion between French and German ideas about the future international role of Europe and the lack of European solidarity in the commercial sector puts the possibility of establishing an effective European foreign policy in serious doubt for some years to come.