Germany’s Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock (right) and her counterpart, Qin Gang, Foreign Minister of China, attend a press conference in Berlin
China’s foreign minister said yesterday [Macau time] that his country has no intention of benefiting from the war in Ukraine and hopes for further discussions on a peace plan Beijing proposed earlier this year.
Speaking after a meeting with his German counterpart in Berlin, Foreign Minister Qin Gang noted the recent talks the government in Beijing had with both Moscow and Kyiv, and said China’s special envoy for Europe was expected to visit Ukraine again soon.
“We won’t pour oil on the fire” of the war, Qin said, according to an official interpreter.
Western countries have accused Beijing of providing political and material support to Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Qin denied Chinese firms were doing so. He said China maintains “normal” trade relations with Russia, not mentioning a significant bump in China’s purchases of Russian crude oil at a major discount.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock urged China to use its clout to find a peaceful solution to the conflict but suggested that Beijing wasn’t doing enough yet.
“As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, China can play a significant role in ending the war, if it decides to do so,” she told reporters in Berlin.
Baerbock welcomed recent statements by the Chinese government confirming the sovereignty of countries that once made up the Soviet Union, adding that the position must hold for Ukraine, too.
The German government is currently in the process of adjusting its policy toward China, with some in the three-party coalition government pushing for a tougher line toward Beijing.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a speech to the European Parliament that he favors a “de-risking” rather than a “decoupling” of Germany’s economy from China.
The distinction did not satisfy Qin, who suggested the German government’s policy eventually could hurt trade between the two countries.
“Normal economic exchange should not be politicized,” he said.
Qin downplayed the recent cancellation of a meeting between China and Germany’s finance ministers, saying the visit was postponed for “technical” reasons and should not be over-interpreted.
A fellow member of German Finance Minister Christian Lindner’s Free Democratic Party, Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger, visited Taiwan in March, prompting criticism from Beijing, which considers the island part of its territory.
“We won’t allow our liberal values to be bought in return for good business,” he told German news site The Pioneer. MDT/AP
