Helmut schmidt china visit

Recently, the Chinese scholar Wang Hui sat down for a conversation with Helmut Schmidt, Germany’s elder statesman, in Hamburg.

Until 2007, Wang Hui was editor of the influential journal, "Dushu," and is author of the seminal four-volume study, “The Rise of Modern Chinese Thought.” Helmut Schmidt, 95, was chancellor of Germany from 1974-1982 and visited China several times to meet Mao and Deng Xiaoping.

A version of this conversation appeared in Chinese in Guancha.cn.

PART II: Japan Has No Friends in Asia.

Neither does China.

WANG HUI: China has become the second largest economy in the world. Many economists argue that by 2030 China will be the number one economy.

HELMUT SCHMIDT: Whether in 2030 or 2040, that will happen.

It is a great change in global history.

WANG: At the same time, the situation in East Asia has been worsening. Since the late Qing Dynasty, Japan has been the most powerful country in the whole region, and it was not prepared to see the r