Archives: Dispatches

In June 2017, the German public broadcaster NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk)  launched a joint talk show with CGTN (中國環球電視網), the English-language channel of China Central Television, to be aired twice a year. Called “Dialog mit China” (Dialogue with China), the hour-long programs featured NDR television chief Andreas Cichowicz and CGTN host Yang Rui (楊銳) co-moderating discussions on political and economic topics with guests from both countries. In June 2019, an episode recorded in Guangzhou focused on the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development plans, German business investment in high-tech sectors, and “one country, two systems” governance, aired on the Television Station, creating backlash. Critics, including German lawmaker Margarete Bause said that the format avoided human rights violations, Hong Kong’s mass protests, and Tiananmen anniversary commemorations despite their contemporaneous relevance.

In July 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) published a signed article titled “To Make the World a Better Place” in the German newspaper Die Welt ahead of his state visit to Germany and attendance at the G20 Hamburg Summit. The article, distributed by Xinhua News Agency (新華社), outlined the bilateral cooperation between China and Germany and called for “strategic synergy” between China’s Made in China 2025 initiative—a state-led industrial policy aimed at upgrading China’s manufacturing capabilities in high-tech sectors—and Germany’s Industry 4.0 strategy, which focuses on digitalization and smart manufacturing. Xi emphasized expanding Belt and Road cooperation and described the relationship as a “comprehensive strategic partnership,” building on language from his first visit to Germany as head of state in 2014. 

On September 1, 2025, the German media outlet Table Media published a signed article by the Chinese Ambassador to Germany in its Table Briefings channel titled “Learning from History – Guided by Values into the Future” (鑒往昔而知來 行正道以致遠). The article employed official Chinese Communist Party terminology to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, characterizing it as the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War (中國人民抗日戰爭暨世界反法西斯戰爭勝利80周年). This framing, which differs from international usage of “Second Sino-Japanese War” or “World War II,” serves to bolster the CCP’s historical legitimacy and its narrative placing itself at the center of the defeat of fascism. The article further invoked the phrase “Liberation of Taiwan” (光復台灣) to assert Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan, declaring that “the one-China principle has been a global consensus since World War II” (一個中國原則已然是二戰後的世界共識).