BERLINER MORGENPOST
Berlin (ots)
You have to keep a cool head in relations with China. A glorification – according to the motto: important market for German companies – is just as out of place as a demonization. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock managed a well-tempered mix during her visit to Tianjin and Beijing.
On the one hand, she submitted offers of cooperation, such as cooperation on renewable energies. On the other hand, it made Beijing responsible for putting pressure on Russia in the Ukraine war. The Foreign Minister also warned China of the disastrous consequences of an invasion of Taiwan for the global economy. And she raised the issue of human rights. The fact that she formulated her criticism soberly and without polemical sharpness can certainly be described as a learning effect. In the past, she often presented herself as a moral disciplinarian who even gave the chancellor public recommendations for a value-based China policy. Nevertheless, one thing is true: China is planning its rise to world power and is going about it with hard bandages. Ample subsidies for their own companies are just as much a part of this as the foreclosure of their own markets for foreign companies. In addition, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has a dangerous strategic partnership with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The West can only negotiate successfully with China if it remains united and adopts a dual strategy of dialogue and toughness. French President Emmanuel Macron’s shrill appeal that Europe should not become a “vassal” of the United States was counterproductive. Baerbock did better in Beijing.
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