Duisburg is well-known in China as Berlin. For the beleaguered German city is the Asian Partner. 37 years of city partnership with Wuhan, is a popular commercial location, the end point of the New silk road.
Each week, approximately 35 trains between Duisburg port and China to
In the office of Gabriele Back Chinese textbooks to lie on a conference table. Chinese plates and a miniature Parawan adorn the other side of the room. On the wall of a Chinese poem depends.
“The trend is clear. We can’t come to China. We maintain strong cultural and economic Connections,” says Back. She is a school leader at the Max Planck grammar school and has taken a landmark decision. Starting next year, your students can learn from the seventh class Chinese. Side by side with French and English.
Mei Lin-shock teaches now Chinese at the school, currently only for older high-schoolers. The young people were fascinated by the language. “The characters and the tone are interesting for the students,” she says. “The words ‘smell’ and ‘driving’ sound, for example, are very similar.”
For the head of the school, Back the deal closes a gap in the market: “We give here a realistic picture. The students should be able to see through the language of things as they are. For the company in Duisburg, graduates with Chinese proficiency are particularly interesting.”
Headmistress Gabriele Back, wants to equip their students at the Max Planck grammar school for the future
Bond has been going on for decades
A 37-year-old cities partnership with the city of Wuhan have laid the Foundation, says Duisburg China-representative John plough. Meanwhile, around 2,000 Chinese students studying at the University, 100 Chinese companies are located in the city. The city has become for the Chinese is always interesting. “We are in talks with an Investor from China who wants to buy a site on the skin of the station,” says plough. “This is exactly what we want.”
And the city has also needed. Once Duisburg was an important location for the steel and coal industry. As this has been scaled back, the number of unemployed increased. Today, the unemployment rate in Duisburg at around eleven percent. For comparison: in Germany there are only 4.9 per cent.
Strong economic Connections
An important carrier of hope for the port. Within 20 years, here, 7000 Jobs have been created. Also, thanks to the Chinese. Because one strand of the New silk road ends in Duisburg, Germany. The New silk road is one of the most important Chinese economic projects. A huge rail network linking Asia with Europe. More than 100 countries are involved.
Duisburg is for this project to be of crucial importance, because here is the largest inland port in the world. Eight container terminals to handle the daily deliveries and forward them to other destinations in Europe. More than 35 freight trains a week between Duisburg and China. The Trend is upwards.
“We serve about a dozen Chinese cities and provinces”, says the Chairman of the Board of the Duisburg port, Erich Staake. “We believe this will have great opportunities for growth.” About 30 percent of total trade by freight train between Europe and China are already handled via the port of Duisburg. Still, however, the Eastern partners of the cooperation, and particularly benefits. Three full containers from China only a full Container back to Asia.
Chinese containers will be transported by freight train to Duisburg
It depends on the cooperation
However, it is difficult to find critics of the Chinese influence in Duisburg. For most, China is a hope, in spite of the international tensions with the United States.
Lawyer Thomas Pattloch advises companies in dealing with Chinese partners. He warns against too much naivety: “The Germans are extremely naive if you will be negotiating with Chinese partners. You are ill-informed, much worse than the Chinese side. The art of negotiating in China, for culture, for life, is totally underestimated.”
China officer, the plow is aware of the danger, but emphasizes: “The Chinese have proved themselves, so far as is absolutely fair business partner. We are on an equal footing.” However, the market in China is still very closed and hardly accessible.
Also Patt hole does not exclude that there could be Chinese companies are very good partnerships. “On the one hand, there are cultural particularities, on the other hand, many negotiations are amazing to ‘business as usual’.” However, this was not the case for all business partners. Particularly in the area of data security and telecommunications, one must know the limits of the Chinese counterpart.
A Delicate Terrain Data Security
And since it is also in Duisburg critical. The City councillor with responsibility for digitalisation, Martin Murrack, receives in his office in the city hall. He has a lot of criticism to listen to in the past few months, because of Duisburg wants to become a Smart City and a Partner is Huawei. This is exactly the group that the USA were in the middle of may on a Black List. The accusation: Huawei could transmit data to the Chinese intelligence service. Particularly, the Development of the 5G network, Huawei could not be trusted.
Martin Murrack is for the development of Duisburg to a Smart City, responsible
Murrack is trying to smooth the waters. “Huawei is just one Partner of many in our Smart City concept. And we have no exclusivity. We are not obligated to the services of Huawei’s access.” The data of the Duisburger would in any case go to Huawei. The fittings securely on a local Server.
Suddenly, the international policy is drafted in the Duisburg city hall. Although the efforts are large to hold them. “For us, it is not to comment on international relations. If the Federal government decides to trust a company, we are naturally interested in,” says Murrack.
To trust an unknown Partner
For the lawyer stalemate hole, it is the “much-cited-In-Need to Decide”. There is nothing to help, he says. “The distrust between the East and the West has grown a lot recently. It will require more control to work with personal data. It must be clear: A company like Huawei can’t say no when the Chinese government calls something.”
China closes in Duisburg is a gap. In the city with otherwise little perspective to tratu the partners from the far East a lot. So far, the city of Duisburg, have good experiences, but the Asian partner country remains foreign. In the office of the China representative of an oblong piece of writing hanging with Chinese characters on it. “That’s my Name,” says plough. In addition, other characters. What are the mean, know it is not as accurate.
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New silk road – China’s grip on Power?
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