The Baltic states have been outraged these days by the Chinese ambassador to France, who believes that former Soviet republics are not necessarily sovereign. “In international law, even these countries of the former Soviet Union do not have an effective status because there is no international agreement to concretise their status as sovereign countries,” said the ambassador, also referring to Ukraine.
And where is the outrage in this country? The statement must give reason to look again at the “challenge China”. In order to derive your own actions from it.
Excitement would also be justified. Because basically it’s already a tremendous process when a charge d’affaires abroad says something like that. Moreover, it will if Chinese mission chief Lu Shaye does it. Then in Paris, where the desire to understand Beijing is greater than anywhere else in the western world. Can you trust yourself more?
Beijing appeased afterwards, declaring that it recognizes the status of the countries for a long time. As if the other was just a more academic view of the legal situation. What has been said still has an effect on the observation that China is currently under because of its desire for a great power. As if someone had taken off the mask.
The goal: expansion in every way
What one suspects anyway: that there is another face behind it. One that agrees with those who are now concerned; now that Xi Jinping is the most powerful Chinese ruler since – no, even before Mao Zedong. His goal: expansion in all ways, in all fields, politically, economically, militarily. The Silk Road is just a cipher for this.
And the expansion of relations with Russia is a highly dangerous development in this context. Vladimir Putin, president and autocrat like Xi, only unmasked: He wants the sunken Soviet Union back. Whereby to have again means: to re-incorporate former republics, satellite states at a different time.
How to deal with it, how to act? That is a question that cannot be asked of the federal government at the moment. Because their China strategy, which has been announced for a long time, is still a long time coming. It is currently “in the departmental vote”, according to the official information. This vote may take time. Especially since the Federal Chancellor is known to intend to have an important say.
But it’s like this: China is coming up in a big way in the meantime. It interferes in the Near and Middle East, in the Ukraine war (probably also with arms aid for the Russians), frightened with the statements about ex-Soviet republics – the big diplomatic silverware would have to be unpacked there. Namely on the western, European, on the German side. Want to say: A Berlin strategy is overdue. But something of.
It doesn’t matter how it used to be, when you could take a little more time to think ahead, here and now things have to go faster. Because the world and its crises do not wait. Certainly not the Chinese. Outrage doesn’t help anyone in the long run.
