What to Take From German Chancellor Scholz's Visit to China

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's recent trip to China indicates that Berlin will continue to maintain trade ties with Beijing while also working to gradually reduce critical dependencies, despite mounting external and domestic pressure for a more aggressive decoupling. Scholz visited China on Nov. 3-4 accompanied by a large business delegation, the first Western leader to do so since Chinese President Xi Jinping secured an unprecedented third term in October. The two leaders condemned the threat of nuclear weapons in Ukraine and discussed the mutual need to ensure the stability of food and energy supply chains. Finally, as Scholz was flying back to Berlin on Nov. 4, the German Chancellery posted a tweet that noted the ''reliability and trust'' between Germany and China as the basis for a ''political partnership'' between the two countries. As he was flying back to Berlin on Nov. 4, Scholz tweeted that ''reliability and trust [formed]...