Germany Wants China to Help End the War in Ukraine

AFP — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday he hoped Berlin and Beijing could help achieve a “just peace” in Ukraine, as he met President Xi Jinping in the Chinese capital.

The chancellor arrived in China on Sunday, accompanied by a large delegation of ministers and business executives on his second visit to the country since taking office.

His whistlestop tour has taken him to the southwestern megacity of Chongqing, economic powerhouse Shanghai and now Beijing, but he faces a tough balancing act as he aims to shore up economic ties with Berlin’s biggest trading partner.

Meeting with Xi at Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on Tuesday, Scholz told the Chinese leader he hoped to discuss “how we can contribute more to a just peace in Ukraine”.

While China says it is a neutral party in the Ukraine conflict, it has been criticised for refusing to condemn Moscow for its offensive.

And China and Russia have in recent years ramped up economic cooperation and diplomatic contacts, their strategic partnership only growing closer since the invasion of Ukraine.

Scholz on Tuesday told Xi that “the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and Russia’s armament have a very significant negative impact on security in Europe”, according to a recording provided by the chancellor’s office.

“They directly affect our core interests,” he told Xi, adding they “damage the entire international order because they violate a principle of the United Nations Charter”.

He also touched on areas where he said the two countries could cooperate, including climate change.

– ‘Risks and challenges’ –

Chinese state media said Xi had highlighted the importance of ties in the face of “increasing risks and challenges”.

“China and Germany are the second and third largest economies in the world,” state broadcaster CCTV quoted Xi as having said.

“The two countries should view and develop bilateral relations from a long-term and strategic perspective and work together to inject more stability and certainty into the world,” the Chinese leader added.

He also laid out what state media described as “four principles to prevent the Ukraine crisis from spiralling out of control and to restore peace”.

Nations must focus on “the upholding of peace and stability and refrain from seeking selfish gains”, Xi said, as well as “cool down the situation and not add fuel to the fire”.

“We need to create conditions for the restoration of peace and refrain from further exacerbating tensions,” Xi added, while aiming to “reduce the negative impact on the world economy”.

The “four principles” echoed a Beijing paper last year that called for a “political settlement” to the conflict, which Western countries said could enable Russia to hold much of the territory it has seized in Ukraine.

CCTV also released footage of the two going for a walk in the picturesque garden of the statehouse for “in-depth exchanges” set to an uplifting classical tune.

Scholz is next expected to meet with Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday, sit down with a German-Chinese economic committee, and hold a press conference.

Scholz’s visit comes as many of Germany’s Western allies confront China on a range of trade issues.

A slew of probes into state aid for Chinese solar panels, electric cars and wind turbines are ongoing in Brussels.

The United States, meanwhile, is investigating national security risks posed by Chinese technology in cars.

“Derisking” has also emerged as a core theme of the EU’s economic policy towards China, after Russia’s war in Ukraine exposed the bloc’s energy dependence on Moscow.

But speaking to Scholz Tuesday, Xi emphasised that the “industrial and supply chains of China and Germany are deeply embedded in each other”, state media said.

“China’s exports of electric vehicles, lithium batteries (and) photovoltaic products… have not only enriched global supply and alleviated global inflation pressure, but also made great contributions to the global response to climate change,” he said.

“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,” Xi said.