German ambassador to China Dr. Volker Stanzel visited Strong China Forum hosted by People's Daily and answered questions by netizens on the subject of "The Role Germany plays in EU and EU-China Relations" on May 14.

Germany's role in EU and EU-China relations

In responding to a reader's analogy that the Sino-EU relations are like a friendly soccer game, Dr. Stanzel said Germany played the forward in the game and what he wanted to know was whether a goal would be scored.

The foreign policies in Europe have been based on agreement of all its member countries. As an EU country which has very close and friendly relationship with China, Germany has been devoted to contributing to the development of the EU-China relations.

Germany, as one of the six founding nations of the EU, has been promoting the integration process of the biggest unity of nations in the world. It is still making efforts on the formulation of the EU Constitution.

The EU has expanded to 27 members from 6. It is much easier to take care of interests of six nations than to reach consensus among 27 members. But it will make much more sense to achieve the goal of bringing all members together in such a big union.

The theory of "China threat"

Dr. Stanzel held that an emerging power, economically or politically, normally draws much attention of the rest of the world, which leads to both positive and negative assumptions. The theory of "China threat", for example, reflects the feeling some people have on the new reality that China is rising.

Dr. Stanzel explained that by making Japan as an example. There were many books on the "Japan threat", shortly after the East Asian country's rise on the international arena. To that point, he maintained that people should adopt an easy attitude when handling this sensitive issue.

More and more people now are focusing on China. Some are concerned about the rise of China. Others hold a more positive attitude toward China. For China itself, the most important thing is to hold rational, pragmatic as well as concrete dialogues with all these people.

Germany-China relations

Some Chinese think the Sino-German relationship is not as good as that in former Chancellor Schroeder's era. Dr. Stanzel assured that there was no "problem" in the relationship.

He explained it is just a matter of the different styles. Chinese government and Merkel's administration are still making sustained efforts in improving bilateral relations.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao have decided to launch a three-year campaign to facilitate the cultural, economic, social as well as political understanding and exchanges between the two countries. The German Embassy has been working on this big project for some time.

The Nationalism

Many countries in Europe have euro as common currency in trade, and European citizens do not need passport when traveling around EU member countries. There is desire for competition among the youth as the result of the integration. However, the patriotism now is quite different from the nationalism in the past.

Dr. Stanzel's impression about the Chinese youth comes from his experience with Chinese college students. He is quite impressed by their pride in the achievements made in China's modernization drive.

However, the ambassador does not hope the youth feel complacent over the success, because the achievements are made by their parents or older generations instead of themselves.

It is understandable that the youth are proud of the success achieved by their parents or grand-parents. But sometimes such pride may turn into a kind of nationalism. What's more, if a country achieves success, it does not mean the country can exercise its power at will on anybody and any other countries.

On 2008 Beijing Olympic Games

Dr. Stanzel thinks that the year 2008 is crucial not only for Beijing, but also for China, because it offers the world a wonderful opportunity to learn more about China and the development made in the past ten years.

He stressed that the prime goal of Olympic Game is to compete in sports. He hopes journalists could pay more attention to that point when covering this great international sporting event. He looks forward to a wonderful sporting feast for all.

By People's Daily Online