Germany backs China’s Cosco shipping on Hamburg port bid despite national security warnings
- State-owned giant to buy less than 25 per cent instead of the 35 per cent stake it sought and will have no voting rights at Germany’s busiest port
- Compromise decision by Olaf Scholz cabinet follows controversy at home exposing divisions on China policy and EU warnings over strong Beijing ties
The German government has backed a controversial deal allowing Chinese state-owned shipping giant Cosco to buy a stake in a terminal at its busiest port, despite multiple federal ministries warning that it would be a national security risk.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s cabinet on Wednesday gave the green light to a compromise whereby Cosco would buy a stake “below 25 per cent” of Tollerort container terminal, owned by Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA).
The Chinese company wanted a 35 per cent stake, a purchase that would have automatically gone through at the end of October had the cabinet not struck a deal.
At this reduced stake, Cosco will have no voting rights at the port, the economic ministry said.
The port saga has become a huge story in Germany, and has exposed deep divisions on federal China policy among the three-way coalition which came to power last year.
Chancellor Scholz, a Social Democrat and the former mayor of Hamburg, has largely followed predecessor Angela Merkel’s policy of maintaining strong trading ties with China, even as European Union officials warned that Berlin was set to repeat the mistakes of the past, in reference to its reliance on Russian energy.
