China raises concerns about German export curbs amid chips move

China’s commerce minister voiced concerns about German export restrictions in a meeting with that country’s economy minister, just hours after it was reported Berlin was considering limiting shipments of chemicals used to make semiconductors.

Wang Wentao, China’s commerce minister, expressed his views about export controls during a meeting Thursday in Berlin with Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, who is also the economy minister. The two also discussed creating a fair and equal business environment, China’s commerce ministry said in a statement.

Bloomberg reported Thursday that Germany is in talks to limit the export of some chemicals to China, according to people familiar with the matter. The proposal is part of a package of measures that Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government is discussing that would cut off China’s access to goods and services needed for the production of advanced semiconductors. 

The move comes after Japan, the Netherlands, and the US imposed restrictions on sales to China of machines used to make computer chips, limiting Chinese firms’ access to the technology needed to make the most advanced semiconductors. 

German relations with China are in flux, with Scholz trying to strike a balance between supporting the nation’s massive economic interests in the country with national security and human rights concerns. Relations more broadly with Europe have been fraying, particularly after President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a “no limits” friendship weeks before Moscow invaded Ukraine. 

In an interview last month, Habeck said the US isn’t pressuring Germany to curtail economic links with China. Instead, Berlin is looking to reduce the risks from German firms relying too heavily on China, he said. 

German companies are large investors in China, although much of the new money in recent years has come from just a few firms.