Business with Beijing, détente with Moscow: West Germany's China policy in a global context, 1969–1982

Abstract

China's re-entry into the international community in the 1970s created important opportunities for trade-dependent European states such as the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). At the same time Bonn did not want to risk the gains of Ostpolitik by openly collaborating with the Soviets' arch-enemies in Beijing. The following article argues that while never questioning the priority of détente in Europe, the FRG eventually succeeded in forging close relations with China by focusing on areas of cooperation that were below the radar of Cold War politics, such as small-scale projects of technical assistance, student exchange, and regional cooperation through the German Länder.

Notes

Martin Albers received a BA in International Relations from the University of Geneva in 2008 and an MPhil in Modern European History from the University of Cambridge in 2009. Since October 2010 he has been working on a PhD at the University of Cambridge, in which he compares British, French and West German policies towards China during the 1970s. Correspondence to: Martin Albers, Christ's College, Cambridge, CB2 3BU, UK. Email: [email protected]

¹ See for example Niall Ferguson et al., eds., The Shock of the Global: The 1970s in Perspective, (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2010).

² e.g. Wilfried Loth, Overcoming the Cold War: A History of Détente, 1950–1991 (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2002); Carole Fink and Bernd Schaefer, eds., Ostpolitik, 1969–1974: European and Global Responses (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009); Margaret MacMillan, Nixon and Mao. The Week That Changed the World (New York: Random House, 2007).

³ Robert Dallek, Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power (London: Allen Lane, 2008); Fredrik Logevall, and Andrew Preston, eds., Nixon in the World: American Foreign Relations, 1969–1977 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008); William Burr, ed., The Kissinger Transcripts: The Top Secret Talks with Beijing and Moscow (New York: New Press, 1999). See also Betty Glad, An Outsider in the White House: Jimmy Carter, His Advisors, and the Making of American Foreign Policy (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2009).

⁴ e.g. Ezra Vogel, Yuan Ming, Tanaka Akihiko, eds., The Golden Age of the U.S.-China-JapanTriangle, 1972–1989 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002); William Kirby, Robert S. Ross, Gong Li, eds., Normalization of U.S.-China Relations (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005); Chris Tudda, A Cold War Turning Point: Nixon and China, 1969–1972 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2012).

⁵ See for example Jost Dülffer and Wilfried Loth, eds., Dimensionen internationaler Geschichte (Munich: Oldenbourg, 2012).

⁶ Even with regard to general overviews of post-1945 Sino-German relations there have hardly been any attempts to use archival material from earlier than the early 1960s. Tim Trampedach, Bonn und Peking: die wechselseitige Einbindung in aussenpolitische Strategien 1949–1990 (Hamburg: Institut für Asienkunde, 1997); Mechthild Leutner and Tim Trampedach, eds., Bundesrepublik Deutschland und China 1949 bis 1995: Politik, Wirtschaft, Wissenschaft, Kultur: eine Quellensammlung (Berlin: Akademieverlag, 1995).

⁷ Bernd Schaefer, ‘Ostpolitik, “Fernostpolitik”, and Sino-Soviet rivalry: China and the two Germanys’, in Fink and Schaefer, Ostpolitik, 129–147; M.E. Sarotte, Dealing with the Devil: East Germany, Détente, and Ostpolitik, 1969–1973 (Chapel Hill, N.C. and London: University of North Carolina Press, 2001); Claudie Gardet, Les relations de la République populaire de Chine et de la République démocratique allemande (1949–1989) (Bern and Oxford: Lang, 2000).

⁸ Chen Jian and Yang Kuisong, ‘Chinese Politics and the collapse of the Sino-Soviet Alliance’, in Odd Arne Westad, ed., Brothers in Arms: The Rise and Fall of the Sino-Soviet Alliance, 1945–1963 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998), 246–294.

⁹ Politisches Archiv des Auswärtigen Amts (PA AA): B37 660. Memo, Bonn, 7 August 1972.

¹⁰ Schaefer, ‘Ostpolitik, “Fernostpolitik”’, 130–134.

¹¹ Ibid., 137f. Relations between China and the GDR remained cool until the 1980s. Competition with the GDR did therefore not play a major role in Bonn's China policy during the 1970s.

¹² This was acknowledged openly by the department head for East Asia in the West German foreign ministry when he talked to a French colleague. Archives Diplomatiques, La Courneuve (ArchDipl): 119QO/812. Telegram, Bonn, 11 January 1972.

¹³ Rheinisch-Westfälisches Wirtschaftsarchiv, Cologne (RWWA): 175-8-3. ‘24. Sitzung des Arbeitskreises China des Ost-Ausschusses der Deutschen Wirtschaft’, 9 February 1971.

¹⁴ Overall trade with China in 1971 was about 776 million DM, slightly above 0.5% of total German trade. PA AA: B37 660. ‘Die China-Politik der Bundesrepublik Deutschland’, 26 April 1972. Statistisches Bundesamt, ‘Aussenhandel: Gesamtentwicklung des deutschen Aussenhandels ab 1950’ (2012).

¹⁵ Leutner and Trampedach, Bundesrepublik und China, 122f.

¹⁶ ArchDipl: 119QO/812. Telegram, Bonn, 16 August 1971.

¹⁷ RWWA: 175-8-3. Audouard to von Carnap, 26 April 1971.

¹⁸ RWWA: 175-32-2. Memorandum by Rolf Audouard (untitled), 19 February 1982.

¹⁹ ‘Schröder aus China zurück: Bonns Ostpolitik besser mit Peking?’, Der Spiegel, 7 August 1972.

²⁰ e.g. Rosemary Foot, ‘Prizes won, opportunities lost: The U.S. Normalization of Relations with China, 1972–1979’, in Kirby, et al., Normalization, 90–115.

²¹ See for example PA AA: B97 543. ‘Sachstand: bisherige Situation’, 20 September 1972.

²² PA AA: B97 543. ‘Sachstand: deutsch-chinesischer Kulturaustausch’, 26 September 1974.

²³ See various documents in PA AA: Zwischenarchiv 100.108.

²⁴ Reports in PA AA: Zwischenarchiv 101.552.

²⁵ Helmut Schmidt, Balance of Power (London: Kimber, 1971).

²⁶ Interview with Helmut Schmidt, Hamburg, 11.2.2013.

²⁷ Ibid.

²⁸ PA AA: Zwischenarchiv, 101.540. ‘Anregungen für die Gesprächsführung’, September 1975.

²⁹ Helmut Schmidt, Menschen und Mächte (Berlin: Siedler, 1987), 356.

³⁰ Much later Singapore's prime minister Lee Kuan Yew told Schmidt that the Chinese too were frightened of war with the Soviet Union. Interview with Helmut Schmidt, Hamburg, 11.2.2013.

³¹ Horst Möller, Klaus Hildebrand, Gregor Schöllgen (eds.), Akten zur Auswärtigen Politik der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, 1975 (Munich: Oldenbourg, 2006), Doc. 323, 1498.

³² Schmidt, Menschen, 362.

³³ Schwarz et al., Akten 1975, Doc. 322, 1493.

³⁴ Schmidt met, among others, with the vice-foreign minister Qiao Guanhua, the vice prime ministers Gu Mu and Fang Yi and with the minister of foreign trade, Li Qiang. Bundesarchiv, Koblenz (BArch): B136/12546; B 136/16619.

³⁵ Archiv der sozialen Demokratie, Bonn (AdsD): 1/HSAA006662. ‘Material für die Presse’, 29.10.1975.

³⁶ PA AA: Zwischenarchiv 101.540. ‘Möglichkeiten einer deutschen Chinapolitik’, October 1975, 6.

³⁷ Bernd Schaefer, ‘“Europe must not become Greater Finland”: opponents of the CSCE – the German CDU/CSU and China’, in Andreas Wenger, Vojtech Mastny,Christian Nuenlist,eds., Origins of the European Security System: The Helsinki Process Revisited, 1965–1975 (London: Routledge, 2008), 124–143.

³⁸ Wang Shu, Maos Mann in Bonn: vom Journalisten zum Botschafter (Frankfurt: Societäts-Verlag, 2002), 167f., 172f.

³⁹ AdsD: 1/HSAA006660. ‘Besuch des Bundeskanzlers in China’, 18 November 1974.

⁴⁰ See for example Dietrich Strothmann, ‘Bonns “schlechtester Mensch”’, Die Zeit, 31 January 1975, 4; ‘Im Weltmaßstab’, Der Spiegel, 27 January 1975, 23.

⁴¹ Friedrich Voss, Den Kanzler im Visier: 20 Jahre mit Franz-Josef Strauß (Mainz/Munich: v. Hase & Kohler Verlag, 2000), 374.

⁴² BArch: B136/16881. Memo, 31 January 1975.

⁴³ AdsD: 1/HSAA006660. ‘Aufzeichnungen des Botschafters a.D.’, 21 January 1975; Schaefer, ‘Greater Finland’, 135.

⁴⁴ The National Archives (TNA): Public Records Office (PRO) Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO): 21/1239. John Addis to Thomas Brimelow, Beijing, 14 June 1974.

⁴⁵Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XVIII, China, 1973–1976, Document 56; Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XVII, China, 1969–1972, Document 233.

⁴⁶ Voss, Kanzler, 382.

⁴⁷Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XVIII, China, 1973–1976, Document 119.

⁴⁸ Memo, ‘Europe’ (undated, October 1975), folder ‘November 28 – December 7, 1975 – Far East, Briefing Book – Peking – International Issues – President's Copy (2)’, Box 19, National Security Adviser, Trip Briefing Books and Cables for President Ford, 1974–1976, Gerald R. Ford Library.

⁴⁹ BArch, 136/16881 Memo, 20.1.1974(sic).

⁵⁰ Matthias Dahlke, ‘“Nur eingeschränkte Krisenbereitschaft”. Die staatliche Reaktion auf die Entführung des CDU-Politikers Peter Lorenz’, Vierteljahreshefte für Zeitgeschichte,vol. 55, 4 (2007), 641–678.

⁵¹ Interview with Helmut Schmidt, Hamburg, 11.2.2013.

⁵² BArch: B136/16881. Telegram, Beijing, 20 January 1975; ‘Keine Achse Bonn-Peking’, Die Zeit, 12 March 1976, 4.

⁵³ For Filbinger's visit see PA AA: Zwischenarchiv, 103.767.

⁵⁴ Odd Arne Westad, ‘The Great Transformation: China in the Long 1970s’, in Ferguson et al., Shock of the Global, 65–79.

⁵⁵ Ezra Vogel, Deng Xiaoping and the transformation of China, (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2011), 426.

⁵⁶ BArch: B136/12546. ‘Deutsch-chinesische Wirtschaftsbeziehungen’, 5 October 1978, 4.

⁵⁷ RWWA: 175-60-2. Natus (Lurgi) to Steves (Ost-Ausschuss), Frankfurt, 13 November 1980. BArch: B136/12546. Telegram, Beijing, 13 November 1978.

⁵⁸ RWWA: 72-1183-3. (Records of the Board Meeting of the East Asia Assocation), Düsseldorf, 9 June 1980.

⁵⁹ Vogel, Deng Xiaoping, 220.

⁶⁰ BArch: B/136/17119. ‘Voraussichtlicher Besuch des chinesischen Vizeaussenministers Chiao Kuan-hua in Bonn’, 27 September 1974.

⁶¹ PA AA: Zwischenarchiv, 103.170. ‘Länderaufzeichnung China’, 1 March 1976, 10f.

⁶² PA AA: Zwischenarchiv, 110.479. ‘Länderaufzeichnung China, Anlage: Besucheraufstellung’, 2 March 1979.

⁶³ AdsD: 1/HSAA008793. Telegram, Beijing, 19 April 1978.

⁶⁴ PA AA: Zwischenarchiv, 107.499. ‘Entwurf Programm für den Besuch S.E. des Stellvertretenden Ministerpräsidenten des Staatsrates der Volksrepublik China, Herrn Gu Mu’, 16 May 1978.

⁶⁵ Vogel, Deng Xiaoping, 221f.

⁶⁶ See various reports in BArch: 136/12546. RWWA: 175-44-3. Memo by Dr. Heinz Kriwet, executive Thyssen (untitled), undated (1980).

⁶⁷ BArch: 136/12546. ‘Besuch des chinesischen Aussenhandelsministers Li-chiang’, 7 March 1978.

⁶⁸ BArch: 136/12546. Telegram, Beijing, 20 March 1978.

⁶⁹ Vogel, Deng Xiaoping, 222.

⁷⁰ TNA: PRO FCO 21/1611. ‘Prime Minister's visit to Bonn’, 18–19 October 1978, ‘CHINA’, 16 October 1978. ArchDipl: 752INVA/2082. ‘Rapport de fin de mission’, 14 June 1979.

⁷¹ TNA: PRO Cabinet Office (CAB) 148/183. ‘Defence sales to China: future politcs, London’, 6 June 1979.

⁷² ArchDipl: 752INVA/2082. ‘Rapport de fin de mission’, 14 June 1979, 48.

⁷³ See for example, BArch: B102/228706. ‘Gespräch von Staatssekretär Dr. von Würzen mit dem chinesischen stellvertretenden Minister für Aussenhandel Herrn Cui Qun’, 22 October 1979.

⁷⁴ ‘Salto am Trapez’, Der Spiegel, 9 February 1970, 34.

⁷⁵ BArch: B196/21635.‘Haltung des Ministeriums zu möglichen Kooperationen der deutschen Luft-und Raumfahrtindustrie’, 20 February 1978.

⁷⁶ See various documents in TNA: PRO Prime Minister's Office (PREM) 19-3.

⁷⁷ AdsD: 1/HSAA008865. Wickert to Schmidt, Brissago, 15 August 1979.

⁷⁸ AdsD: 1/HSAA008865. Memo, Bonn, 3 September 1979.

⁷⁹ Ibid.

⁸⁰ BArch: B136/12546. Telegram, Beijing, 12 March 1979.

⁸¹ Fudan daxue, Zhan hou xide jingji [The West German Economy after the War], (Shanghai: Shanghai University, 1975).

⁸² BArch: B136/12546. Telegram, ‘Vorträge und Seminar von Prof. Wolfram Engels in Peking’, Beijing, 12 March 1979.

⁸³ BArch: B136/12546. Memo, Bonn, 1 June 1979.

⁸⁴ BArch: B136/12546. Telegram, Beijing, 12 March 1979.

⁸⁵ BArch: B141/59448. Präsident des Deutschen Patentamtes to Bundesminister der Justiz, Bonn, 7 February 1980.

⁸⁶ BArch: B141/59448. ‘Besuch einer Patentdelegation in der VR China’, 20 May 1980.

⁸⁷ BArch: B141/59448. Präsident des Deutschen Patentamtes to Bundesminister der Justiz, Bonn, 6 August 1980.

⁸⁸ RWWA: 72-1179-2. Wolff to Offergeld, Cologne, 8 July 1980.

⁸⁹ BArch: B141/59448. ‘Entwicklungspolitische Zusammenarbeit mit der Volksrepublik China’, 23 July 1980.

⁹⁰ See for example Chamber of Commerce Munich, ‘Produktpiraterie im Chinageschäft’, http://www.muenchen.ihk.de/mike/ihk_geschaeftsfelder/international/Laender-und-Maerkte/Asien/China-Produktpiraterie.html, accessed, 22.4.2012.

⁹¹ See for example TNA: PRO British Council (BW) 23/63. ‘British Cultural Delegation to China, April/May 1973’, May 1972.

⁹² PA AA: B97 544. ‘Kulturelle Aktivitäten vergleichbarer Länder in der VR China’, 27 February 1974. PA AA: B97 543. ‘Deutsch-chinesischer Kulturaustausch’, 26 September 1974.

⁹³ BArch: B138/44765. ‘Kulturpolitischer Jahresbericht 1980’, undated (1981), 11.

⁹⁴ PA AA: Zwischenarchiv, 113.082. ‘Zusammenarbeit der Bundesländer mit fremden Staaten’, 15 February 1980.

⁹⁵ AdsD: 1/HSAA008865. Wickert to Schmidt, Beijing, 7 November 1979.

⁹⁶ RWWA: 175-37-3. ‘Vorstandsbrief Ostasiatischer Verein’, 20 December 1977.

⁹⁷ RWWA: 175-32-2. Heinrich Weiss to Johannes Rau, Düsseldorf, 22 March 1982. Hamburger Staatsarchiv: 131-1 II 4949. Horst Ehmke to Hans-Ulrich Klose, Bonn, 2 May 1979.

⁹⁸ PA AA: Zwischenarchiv, 113.082. ‘Verfassungsrechtliche Fragen der auswärtigen Gewalt’, 20 April 1980.

⁹⁹ Bundesarchiv, Stiftung Archive der Parteien und Massenorganisationen der DDR, Berlin (SAPMO-BArch): DY/30/13932. Memo, East-Berlin, 21 October 1982.

¹⁰⁰ SAPMO-BArch: DY/30/13931. Memo, East-Berlin, 27 March 1979.

¹⁰¹ PA AA: Zwischenarchiv, 110.480. ‘Sachstand’, undated (1979).