Et is dark when Jörg Wuttke rolls home through his residential complex in north-east Beijing these days. The man is used to working late. He has been a manager in China since the late 1980s, apart from a brief hiatus after he was shot in the face in his office during the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.
People in China have always worked a little longer and probably a little harder than anywhere else. In addition to his job as chief lobbyist for the German chemical giant BASF, as President of the European Chamber of Commerce, Wuttke was the man who explained the puzzling behavior of his host country to foreign correspondents and politicians from Europe and the USA at almost any time of the day or night.
The difference from previous years is that in many of the chic villas there are now no lights on in the evenings when Wuttke’s limousine is gliding through the residential complex. He knows why. Many residents have told him so. Entrepreneurs and investors, bankers and many managers have left the country. And soon Wuttke will also move away. His term as chamber president ended two weeks ago. He will stay in the country for another year for BASF. Then he wants to go somewhere else. Preferably in the USA. For some of the foreigners in the country, it feels like the lights are actually going out in China.
No quiet moment
Wuttke invited people to lunch at one of his favorite restaurants, the “Tavola” in Beijing’s Chaoyang district. Opposite is the Four Seasons Hotel, where he likes to meet journalists for breakfast. The German Chamber of Commerce Abroad is located next door. The German embassy is a few minutes drive away. Wuttke has hardly sat down before he has to get up again. “I heard you’re leaving?” A lawyer is standing in front of the table. No, he’s staying for another year, Wuttke has to explain. Since a Berlin China newsletter against his will gave the impression that he was leaving the country immediately, he hasn’t had a moment’s peace.
China without Wuttke is actually hard to imagine. Party leader Xi Jinping can be confirmed in office for another five years? The journalists from the New York Times, Economist and FAZ call Jörg Wuttke to ask what this means for the second largest economy. Wuttke speaks about Xi Jinping’s hatred of America and the consequences of an attack on the island of Taiwan. When EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met the Chinese leader Emmanuel Macron in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on the afternoon of April 6 and urged him to use his influence on Putin in the Ukraine war, she had been briefed on this in the morning that China is actually much more dependent on Europe than the other way around – from Wuttke’s lips, of course.
Politicians and journalists love the head of the chamber because he speaks plain language. After China isolated itself from the world after the outbreak of the corona virus and all airports closed, he reported how people in Beijing fled the elevator as soon as his wife and their three blonde sons got on. When Alibaba founder Jack Ma was nearly executed by state propaganda after a critical speech, Wuttke left no doubt that he believed Xi Jinping was getting on with the rich. Wuttke comments on the month-long lockdown in Shanghai, “China’s best city”, with the words that the People’s Republic is in “self-destruct mode”. The second largest economy will soon overtake America, as many self-appointed experts abroad have predicted for years? “Certainly not.”
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