BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s foreign ministry said on Thursday the United States had “no right” to interfere in China’s cooperation with Germany, after Washington warned Beijing was taking a controlling stake in the port of Hamburg.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters at a daily press briefing in Beijing that US interference is a symptom of its practice of coercive diplomacy.
“Practical cooperation between China and Germany is a matter of the two sovereign countries, and the United States should not attack without reason and has no right to interfere and interfere,” Zhao said Thursday, a day before German Chancellor Olaf Schulz arrived in Beijing. On a one-day visit, he is expected to meet President Xi Jinping.
Chinese shipping giant Cosco made an offer last year to acquire a 35% stake in one of HHLA’s logistics companies. (HHFGn.DE) Three terminals in Germany’s largest port, but the German alliance is divided over the deal.
Last week, Germany’s cabinet approved a 24.9% stake investment by COSCO in what an Economy Ministry source described as an “emergency solution” to approve the deal but mitigate its impact.
Approved Investment does not give COSCO any say in management or strategic decisions.
(cover) by Eduardo Baptista, writing by Martin Quinn Pollard; Editing by Raisa Kasulowski and Kim Coogle
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