BERLIN/HAMBURG (dpa-AFX) - Despite the German government's approval of Chinese state-owned Cosco's entry into a Hamburg container terminal, the dispute over the deal continues in the traffic light coalition. Voices from both the Green Party and the FDP parliamentary groups in the Bundestag on Thursday continued to say that a minority stake by Cosco Shipping Ports Ltd (CSPL) in the Tollerort terminal (CTT) was wrong. Meanwhile, the business community expressed relief at the German government's Wednesday night yes to a maximum 24.99 percent Cosco stake.

"It was wrong, it is wrong and it remains wrong," complained Green Party economic politician Felix Banaszak in the Handelsblatt newspaper. He said it was a mistake for Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to prevent a new investment review process. Banaszak said that the Chancellor's "misconceived local patriotism in Hamburg is mixed with a foreign economic policy that has learned nothing from the fatal mistakes made in dealing with Russia". Scholz was mayor of Hamburg before moving to Berlin.

It was short-sighted to bow to China's actions with a view to location competition with other European ports because Beijing was threatening sanctions, the Green Party member of the Bundestag said. "This shows that one is unnecessarily susceptible to blackmail." Banaszak's stance is at odds with Hamburg's Green Party, which favors Cosco's involvement in the Tollerort terminal.

FDP foreign policy expert Frank Müller-Rosentritt stressed, "Any step to sleepwalk into even greater dependence on China is a mistake." China, he said, was buying itself more influence over German infrastructure through Cosco "and strategically playing us off against each other. This cannot be allowed to continue." Michael Kruse, a member of the Hamburg parliament and FDP port expert, believes that Cosco's entry will secure cargo volumes in the short term. "However, in view of the volumes expected in the China trade in the medium term, it is clear that tying cargo volumes to one location is not a sufficient concept for the future."

CDU security politician Roderich Kiesewetter was also critical. "Since the intelligence services and other ministries have warned massively against the sale of shares in the port's terminal to Cosco, the whole thing looks even more like the chancellor going it alone on his China policy misguided path," he told the Handelsblatt newspaper. Germany must finally learn from the mistakes it made with Russia, he added.

Cosco originally wanted to take over as much as 35 percent of the CTT operating company. However, several federal ministries had protested against this, so the cabinet set the quota at below 25 percent last October to prevent Cosco from gaining a blocking minority. Due to the recent classification of CTT as critical infrastructure, the Federal Ministry of Economics now wanted to lower the shareholding threshold even further as part of its review, according to sources. However, unanimity would have been required for a material change to the existing partial ban.

The Federation of German Industries (BDI) is pleased with the approval. It is good for Germany as an investment location and import and export country, said Managing Director Tanja Gonner. Germany's and the EU's economic competitiveness and technological sovereignty require fundamental openness to foreign investment, including from China, she said.

The Central Association of German Seaport Operators (ZDS) called on politicians to strengthen Germany as a port and logistics location now. "To achieve this, Germany not only needs comprehensive upgrading and modernization of the transport infrastructure, but also a clear regulatory framework," said Chief Executive Daniel Hosseus.

Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG) had announced on Wednesday evening that the deal would now be "finalized in a timely manner." However, HHLA did not want to commit to a specific date when asked on Thursday. With the decision, however, it would now be possible to develop CTT into a preferred handling point for HHLA's long-standing customer Cosco, where cargo flows between Asia and Europe would be concentrated.

China is currently the largest trading partner of Germany and the Port of Hamburg. Around 30 percent of the goods handled in the Port of Hamburg would come from China or go there./klm/DP/nas