Germany isn’t very interested in European solidarity.
As Ukraine faces a devastating Russian invasion, the response of Europe’s most powerful economy is to send Kyiv some helmets. And as China wages an economic coercion campaign against Lithuania, Germany is working to ensure China can evade the mildest European Union collective response.
As Politico reports, “Officials said Scholz’s office feared the EU was becoming too aggressive in its defense of Lithuania against Beijing’s economic coercion. The chancellery has been ‘calling everyone who speaks German in the [European] Commission’ to tone down the pressure on China, after France last week said Beijing had gone too far with its attacks on the single market, one of the officials said.”
And what reward has Berlin won from Beijing for such a stark betrayal of European solidarity? Not much.
Instead, China has taken Russia’s side over Ukraine. Reflecting its sensitivity over the risk of alienating European Union trade partners, China’s stance on the Ukraine crisis had been unclear until now. No longer. Inspired by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s submissive behavior, Wang Yi used a call with Secretary of State Antony Blinken to explain why Russia is right.
“To solve the Ukrainian issue, it is still necessary to return to the new Minsk agreement … The security of one country should not be at the expense of the security of others, and regional security should not be guaranteed by strengthening or even expanding military blocs,” Wang said. “Russia’s legitimate security concerns [must be] taken seriously and addressed.”
With its references to the new Minsk agreement, security at the expense of others, and legitimacy, this statement might well have been written by the Kremlin. Yet it contains a basic truth: Facing Russia’s effort to shred European democratic sovereignty, China has now put itself firmly in Moscow’s corner.
Apparently unafraid this stance might damage its prospects of securing an EU-China trade deal that languishes in the European parliament, so-called “wolf warrior” diplomat Zhao Lijian issued another demand. The Chinese foreign ministry spokesman warned on Thursday that “we would also remind the EU to tell right from wrong, and stay wary of Lithuania’s attempts to take China-EU relations hostage.”
This arrogance might be extraordinary, but it’s also perfectly understandable. The leader of Europe’s most powerful economy has shown he cares about nothing except cheap gas and exported cars.
China and Russia know it, and they’re making the most of Scholz’s gift.
