On Wednesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel reminded Chinese President Xi Jinping why she’s China’s greatest Western partner. She also forced President Joe Biden to consider whether Germany is still a close ally.
In a phone call with the Chinese president, Merkel hit all the right notes — for Beijing’s purposes. The German Chancellery has not released its own readout of the call, but Beijing’s assessment is glowing. Shared across the array of Chinese state media outlets, it noted that “Merkel said that the [European Union] insists on autonomy in foreign relations. Today’s world is facing many problems and challenges, and Germany-China, EU-China cooperation is even more needed.” The readout added that “the German side attaches great importance to China’s 14th Five-Year Plan and expects that this will bring new and important opportunities for German-China and EU-China cooperation.”
If this readout is halfway accurate, and we should assume it is, it’s clear what’s going on.
Namely, that is that Merkel is tripling down on the prioritization of German exports to China above any and all other foreign policy concerns. As Xi noted during the call, China has been Germany’s largest trade partner for the last five years. His observation of that fact wasn’t just a side comment. Albeit subtly, Xi is reminding Merkel that Germany’s continued export access to China is dependent on her deference in other foreign policy spheres.
Xi wasn’t done.
The Chinese Communist Party chairman “emphasized that at present, China-EU relations are facing new development opportunities as well as various challenges. The key is to firmly grasp the general direction and main tone of the development of China-EU relations from a strategic height, respect each other, and eliminate interference. China’s development is an opportunity for the EU, and it is hoped that the EU will make a correct judgment on its independence and truly realize its strategic autonomy. “
There’s a lot to read between the lines here. The references to “various challenges” and “eliminate interference” speak to China’s concern over growing pressure from the United States on the EU to take a tougher stance against Chinese technology espionage and coercive economic practices. Xi’s “interference” comment translates to “don’t comment on our genocide against the Uyghur peoples of Xinjiang, and our annihilation of democracy in Hong Kong.” Although China’s activities in these areas are in breach of basic international law, and in explicit breach of its treaty commitments with regard to Hong Kong, China views these concerns as matters that other nations have no right to comment on.
Still, the readout’s most interesting line is its call for Germany and the EU to “make a correct judgment” and “realize its strategic autonomy.”
This idea of strategic autonomy is one promoted by Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron. It’s their way of excusing the appeasement of China as one part of a more developed foreign policy strategy. The Chinese Communists love this autonomy idea because they see it for what it is: evidence of Europe’s reluctance to support the U.S. and other democracies, such as Australia, Canada, India, and Japan, in upholding international norms that have been held sacred since the end of World War II. China knows, after all, that if the EU is willing to ignore its global imperialism from Africa to the Galapagos Islands to the South China Sea and its intellectual property theft and its human rights atrocities, it will have priceless political space to advance those agendas.
When she leaves office later this year, some in the U.S. media might again suggest that Merkel is the true leader of the free world. I would suggest a different honor for the chancellor: She is deserving of China’s highest honor for foreigners: the friendship medal.
