This very controversial visit to Beijing intervenes in a context of increasing distrust of the West in the face of the Chinese authoritarian regime. The German leader has promised to approach “difficult subjects”.
Le Monde with AFP
The German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was received, Friday, November 4, morning, at the Palais du Peuple in Beijing by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Mr. Scholz, who must then meet with Prime Minister Li Keqiang, is the first leader of the European Union (EU) and the G7 to go to China since the start of the pandemic. The strict zero covid policy has led the second economic power of the world to close its borders for almost three years.
The trip of M.Scholz to China “strengthens” cooperation with Germany, said Xi Jinping, according to CCTV public television. The German chancellor, for his part, told the Chinese president that he wanted to “develop more” economic cooperation with Beijing, despite “different points of view”.
“We also want to discuss how we can develop our cooperation (…) on other subjects: climate change, food security and indebted countries,” said Scholz, according to a German government source at the France-Presse agency (AFP).
“Solitaire approach”
This day visit intervenes in a context of increasing distrust of the West in the face of the Chinese authoritarian regime. It occurs just after the renewal of Xi Jinping at the head of the Chinese Communist Party and the whole country, and is seen of a critical eye not only in Germany, but also in France, in Brussels and Washington.
Renouring with the visits to China of her predecessor, the Christian Democrat Angela Merkel (twelve trips in 16 years of power), the Scholz social democrat takes a whole delegation of industrialists, such as the bosses of Volkswagen and Basf. However, the dependence of the first EU economy in this autocracy, where German companies carry out a significant part of their profits, is increasingly questioned.
“With his trip to China, the Chancellor pursues a foreign policy which leads to the loss of confidence in Germany with our nearest partners”, castigated an opposition deputy, Norbert Röttgen, deploring “a Solitary approach “.
And even within the government coalition, warnings are in order: the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the ecologist Annalena Baerbock, has urged “not to depend on a country that does not share our values”, at risk of going “politically vulnerable to blackmail”.
Now a few days before the trip, the German Chancellor authorized Chinese equity acquisition in the Hamburg port terminal. Washington also put pressure on Berlin to limit the ceded share to the Cosco group.
Beijing opposed to “any interference”
trying to calm the spirits, Mr. Scholz had promised “not to ignore controversies” during this visit. In a column published just before his departure, the Chancellor says he is aware that “today China is no longer the same as five or ten years ago”, citing in particular the recent congress of the Chinese Communist Party which cemented the power of President Xi Jinping. “If China changes, our relations with China must also change,” admitted the German Chancellor, sketching careful change of course.
In the economic field, it does not envisage decoupling towards China but a reduction in “unilateral dependencies” with “sense of proportions and pragmatism”.
He made the “difficult subjects” which he intended to approach during his interviews. Among them, “respect for civil and political freedoms as well as the rights of ethnic minorities”, like the Muslim Uighurs of Xinjiang.
But in Beijing, the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zhao Lijian, warned: “The Chinese part is opposed to any interference in our internal affairs and any denigration under the cover of discussions on the rights of the man “.
The chancellor also promised to evoke “the tense situation around Taiwan” and the war in Ukraine while China claims its “neutrality” – seen by Westerners as tacit support for the Kremlin.