(Bloomberg) -- German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock accused China of providing Russia with weapons for its war of aggression against Ukraine and threatening peace in Europe ahead of a potentially thorny visit to Beijing.
“Instead of taking responsibility for peace and security in the world as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China is opposing our core European interests with its economic and weapons aid to Russia,” Baerbock said in an emailed statement before departing Berlin airport on Sunday for her two-day visit to Beijing. Vladimir “Putin’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine is a direct threat to our peace. I will also speak in Beijing about the fact that we cannot simply ignore this in our relations with China.”
The European Union is proposing to sanction several Chinese firms that it claims helped Russian companies develop attack drones that were deployed against Ukraine. Baerbock will meet her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing to address this issue, her spokesman said. Germany’s top diplomat will also discuss the humanitarian situation in China, as well as EU tariffs against Chinese electric vehicles that were introduced in October.
Brussels has claimed that Chinese state subsidies for EVs distort competition. The government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz voted against the tariffs because it fears counter measures against its own car industry. But in contrast to Scholz, who advocates a more pragmatic approach to China, Baerbock, a member of the co-governing Greens, is known for her more critical position.
“As Europe’s largest economy, we stand up for our interests just as the Chinese leadership does for its interests,” Baerbock said. “If our economic competition is abused for system competition, we will not turn a blind eye to it.”
Germany would therefore “not tolerate others violating the international rules of the game to the detriment of German and European industry — be it through state-subsidized overproduction or on the subject of human rights, when ILO core labor standards are ignored for competitive advantage,” she added.
During an earlier visit to China in April 2023, Baerbock had an open conflict with then-Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang during a press conference in Beijing. A few months later, she called Chinese leader Xi Jinping a “dictator” in a TV interview with Fox News, which led to a sharp rebuke from Beijing.
This time, Baerbock and Wang won’t hold a press conference together. Instead, the German minister will talk to reporters after her meeting. She will also meet German business representatives in Beijing.
On Tuesday, Baerbock will travel to Brussels, where she’ll attend the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting. The planned EU sanctions against Chinese companies that deliver weapons to Russia will most likely also be addressed there.
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