(Beijing) German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday in Beijing that he had asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to put pressure on Russia so that Vladimir Putin stops his “insane campaign” in Ukraine.
“China’s word has weight in Russia,” the German leader said on X, who wants to see Russian troops withdraw from Ukraine and “this terrible war stop.”
Olaf Scholz arrived in China on Sunday, accompanied by a large delegation of ministers and business leaders. This is his second visit to the country since taking office at the end of 2021.
During his three-day visit, which has already taken him to the city-province of Chongqing (southwest), the economic capital Shanghai and now to Beijing, the German Chancellor is faced with a balancing act.
He intends to strengthen his country’s economic ties with China, Germany’s main trading partner, while representing a European Union (EU) which wants to be less economically dependent on the Asian giant.
Ukraine Peace Conference
Olaf Scholz said he agreed with Chinese President Xi Jinping to support the Conference on Peace in Ukraine, which Switzerland plans to organize on June 15 and 16.
“China and Germany want to consult intensively and positively on promoting the organization of a high-level conference in Switzerland and future international peace conferences,” Olaf Scholz said on X.
On the Ukrainian crisis, China calls for dialogue, opposes any use of nuclear weapons and urges respect for the territorial integrity “of all countries”, Ukraine included.
But Beijing has never publicly condemned Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine and regularly calls for consideration of Russia’s security concerns vis-à-vis NATO.
China and Russia have been growing closer for more than a decade because of their shared denunciation of what they present as Western hegemony on the international stage.
The two countries have strengthened their economic, military and diplomatic cooperation since the invasion of Ukraine.
For his part, Xi Jinping deemed “cooperation between great powers” “indispensable” in order to confront the “growing risks and challenges” facing the international community, according to Chinese state television CCTV.
“China and Germany are the world’s second and third largest economies,” Xi said. “The importance of the consolidation and development of China-Germany relations goes beyond the scope of bilateral relations and has a significant impact on the Eurasian continent and even the entire world. »
On Ukraine, he presented to his interlocutor “four principles” to prevent the crisis “from getting out of control”, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
Risks
“We should focus on maintaining peace and stability and refrain from selfishly taking advantage” of the situation, Xi Jinping said, calling for “not to add fuel to the fire.” “.
“We must create the conditions necessary to restore peace” and “reduce the repercussions on the global economy,” he argued.
Olaf Scholz’s visit comes as the European Union accuses China of distorting the European market by flooding it with low-cost products, from electric vehicles to wind turbines to solar panels.
“De-risking” dear to the EU, that is to say a “reduction of risks” to reduce dependence on China, was also on the agenda of the discussions.
“The industrial and supply chains of China and Germany are deeply rooted in each other,” Xi Jinping told Olaf Scholz, according to Xinhua.
“Chinese exports of electric vehicles, lithium batteries and photovoltaic products have not only enriched global supply and alleviated inflationary pressure around the world, but also made a great contribution to the global response to climate change,” he argued.
“Mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Germany is not a “risk”, but a guarantee for the stability of bilateral relations and an opportunity to create a future,” argued the Chinese president.
reference: www.lapresse.ca