Germany’s Attitude Towards the Belt and Road Initiative: The Impact of Non-state Actors on German Foreign Policy Towards China

Abstract

This chapter presents the issue of German-Chinese cooperation in the context of the development of the Belt and Road Initiative since 2013. The main supposition of the paper is that in Germany the shape of cooperation with China is not only influenced by the political perception of benefits resulting from bilateral relations and pursuit of interests of national actors in accordance with the spirit of Realpolitik, but also by impact that the non-state actors exert on the decisions taken by the government in Berlin. The text, based on a liberal approach in international relations, indicates the importance of the golden triangle in building international relations by Germany, the so-called triple helix model, which indicates the interpenetrating impact of three elements: politics, society and business. The author tries to prove that in German conditions, the importance of these elements is extremely important, but in particular the business circles influence the steps taken by the federal government. Referring to the in-depth literature review, available statistics and a number of interviews, the author points out that it is the industry that exerts a bottom-up pressure on the shape of the policy pursued by Germany towards China.