German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz said he used his meeting with Xi Jinping on Friday to urge China’s leader to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.
“It is important that China uses its influence over Russia,” the German said in narrating the meeting to the press, adding that the invading country must “immediately stop the attacks that hit the civilian population daily and withdraw from Ukraine.”
He added that he and Xi agreed that Russian nuclear threats were “irresponsible and incendiary”. “By using such weapons, Russia would be crossing a line that the international community has drawn together,” he declared.
Scholz was the first European official to visit Beijing since the beginning of the pandemic, on a trip aimed at strengthening ties with his biggest trading partner. The tour was, however, frowned upon by his countrymen, and even received criticism from allies of the prime minister’s party. They say they are worried that Germany, whose reliance on Russian gas amid the Ukraine War led to an energy crisis, will simply submit to another authoritarian regime.
The German’s conversation with Xi encompassed several controversies that have made recent headlines. The export of Ukrainian cereals, hampered by Russia; accusations of human rights violations by the regime; the advance of climate change—everything was on the menu.
Regarding cereals, Scholz said he asked Xi to “actively participate in the fight against world hunger”, and that he declared that “hunger must not become another weapon”. Regarding respect for human rights and minorities, he said that he made clear Germany’s convictions on the matter, but that the meeting showed that “there are differences between our two countries.” China is accused of repressing and making arbitrary arrests against the Uighurs, a Muslim minority who occupy the Xinjiang region in the west of the country.
Xi, in response, reportedly warned the premier that mutual trust between two nations is easy to destroy but difficult to rebuild, according to state news agency Xinhua. He also stated that China and Germany must respect each other and look out for their respective interests, describing the current international context as “complex and volatile”.
Scholz also met during the trip with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, the regime’s second-highest official responsible for the economy, who is about to step down from office – he was replaced by Li Qiang at the last Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.
On the occasion, the German stated that his country does not intend to dissociate itself from China, with whom he traded a volume of € 246.5 billion (R$ 1.2 trillion) in 2021 alone. Keqiang, in turn, said he is willing to to intensify cooperation with Germany in a number of key areas, including trade, investment, manufacturing and vaccines.
The conversation also covered a controversial topic: Taiwan. The communist dictatorship claims that the island belongs to its territory, and has never renounced the use of force to control it. Scholz stressed that he respects the “one China” policy, but also stressed that “any change in Taiwan’s status must be peaceful and by mutual consent.”
The leaders, by the way, left the meeting with an agreement that allows the BioNTech immunizer against Covid to be used on expatriates in the Asian nation – which explains the presence of a company executive in the delegation that accompanied the German prime minister to Beijing. The vaccine will be the first by a foreign manufacturer to be administered by China, and Scholz said he has lobbied the regime to make it available to the entire Chinese population soon.
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