German Finance Minister Christian Lindner is concerned that his country's economy is becoming too dependent on China and has called for closer trade ties with democracies to counter this dependence..

Dangerous development: Germany's trade deficit against China more than doubled in 2022. We must learn from the experience with Russia,” Lindner tweeted..

Germany's trade deficit with China rose to more than 84 billion euros last year from around 39 billion euros in 2021, Bloomberg notes.. In 2022, imports from China grew by a third compared to the previous year, while German companies exported to China only 3% more over the same period. Germany's exports to all other countries grew by an average of 14%, according to the Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft (IW).

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“This development is very problematic,” says Jurgen Matthes, head of global and regional markets at IW. – Our import dependence is a geopolitical risk. Because the German economy would be vulnerable to blackmail in the event of an armed conflict over Taiwan.”.

For Chinese leader Xi Jinping, a close relationship with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin is becoming increasingly toxic amid the unpredictable and aggressive actions of the master of the Kremlin.. Beijing understands that it is possible to resolve global problems only through interaction with the West. But the US and Europe are unlikely to be ready to turn a blind eye to China's relations with the Russian Federation and, obviously, will require Beijing to make its choice before they themselves agree to lend a hand to it.. Read more about this in the article by Alexei Koval \?