DW Giannis Papadimitriou
The economic review Handelsblatt speaks of an “axis of authoritarianism” and notes that “many Europeans hope that China will play a constructive role in the negotiations to end Russian aggression, but the chances of that happening are slim.” Among other things, we read: “Shortly before the start of the war, Chinese leader Xi and Kremlin leader Putin swore an ‘friendship without limits’.
Russia’s attack on Ukraine did not weaken, but rather strengthened the axis of authoritarianism. The interests of China and Russia may not coincide, but they intersect at a crucial point for the two regimes: Moscow and Beijing want to limit US influence. “Russia is focusing on the territories of the former Soviet Union, China is focusing on the Pacific region.”
What does this mean for Europe? The Düsseldorf newspaper claims that after the change of attitude towards Russia “Germany and Europe will also have to reconsider their attitude towards China. Under its current leadership, the People’s Republic is not a partner, but a strategic opponent. This does not mean that all trade relations should be broken. But it does mean that the EU must now tighten its grip on business know-how in China.».
The “Chinese danger”
On the same subject, the Stuttgarter Zeitung notes: “For many companies, especially in the automotive and mechanical engineering industries, China is the most important market, along with the United States. What used to be a mutual advantage for many years is now turning into a financial risk. “In this regard, as in other areas, the war in Ukraine is sharpening our conscience to avoid dangerous dependencies.”
The Tagesspiegel newspaper notes that “only China’s perspective on the war in Ukraine shows how difficult the EU-China summit will be on Friday. So far, diplomats in the People’s Republic have only been talking about the ‘Ukraine crisis’. They refuse to use the word ‘war’, thus underlining China’s close relationship with Russia. That is why Chinese diplomats, when they talk about ‘peace’ in these contexts, do not mean the withdrawal of Russian troops, but the end of NATO enlargement to the East, as well as what they call ‘US aggression’.
VW factory in Shanghai
However, the Süddeutsche Zeitung claims that “the unity of Europeans in recent weeks has made a strong impression on the Chinese mechanism. Until then, the working hypothesis for Beijing was that the West was declining, its days were numbered. And suddenly the Europeans, supposedly incapable of action, impose sanctions on Russia’s central bank. With a single decree, a large part of the foreign exchange reserves is frozen. “Even here in Beijing, they are starting to wonder if it makes sense to invest more than $ 1,000 billion in US government bonds.”
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