Why We’re Living in the Asian Century (and Europe’s Still Asleep)

I was a guest on what is now Germany’s most influential political talk show a few years ago—think 18 million viewers a month. Afterward, I asked the host, one of the country’s biggest opinion-shapers: “Have you ever been to China?” His reply? “No, but I have been in Mongolia.”

China is Germany’s largest trading partner. No major global issue—climate, AI, trade—can be solved without it. And yet, one of our top media figures has never set foot there.

You can feel it in the numbers, the energy, the direction of innovation: Asia’s not rising—it’s already here. China’s driving EVs like it's already 2030, India’s pumping out software engineers faster than you can say “Fachkräftemangel,” and Southeast Asia is quietly becoming the most exciting test lab for the digital economy.

Meanwhile, in Germany, we’re still patting ourselves on the back for building good cars and holding tight to clipboard culture.

Why you should care: Because ignoring Asia isn’t just ignorant—it’s expensive. If we don’t reframe Asia as a peer and a partner, we’ll miss the boat on everything from innovation to global relevance. 

Visiting Huawei’s Shenzhen headquarters—a leader in bridging Africa’s digital divide (e.g., RuralStar), yet debated in markets like Germany over security concerns.

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👉 My suggestion? Let’s turn Germany into a bridge—not a barrier—between East and West. And let’s start by sending politicians, CEOs, and news anchors on weekly trips to China. I’ll organize the first one.

Stay curious,

Thomas 

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🇩🇪 Curious to dive deeper? For a German perspective on China-Europe relations, check out our podcast episode with Joerg Wuttke here. Wuttke, with his decades of experience in China and Europe, doesn’t hold back.

And if you prefer to read, we highly recommend the German edition of The One Hour China Book—a razor-sharp analysis of China’s megatrends, written for busy brains who still want to understand the world’s most important market.