Germany’s foreign minister visits China on Thursday to reaffirm a united European Union strategy toward Beijing days after French President Emmanuel Macron hinted at disorder in the continent’s approach to the emerging powerhouse.
Macron’s appeal for the EU to minimize its dependency on the U.S. and to warn against getting sucked into a Taiwan crisis caused by “American rhythm and a Chinese overreaction” angered Americans and Europeans.
Many European politicians, diplomats, and experts saw Macron’s statements in Politico and Les Echos as a gift to Beijing’s objective of destroying transatlantic solidarity.
As a result, experts said that many EU members hope German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will use her debut trip to outline a clear and united EU position on China.
Macron’s warning that Europe should not become “caught up in crises that are not ours” was seen as weakening Taiwan’s position, but his administration denied this.
“Now it is mostly damage control… “But the cloud of Macron’s visit is very big, and still, it’s very unclear how this balance will play out,” Alicja Bachulska, a China-EU relations researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations in Warsaw, told Reuters.
Baerbock, who is more hawkish on China than Chancellor Olaf Scholz and is formulating a China strategy to reduce Germany’s economic dependency on Beijing, would have found the trip sensitive even without Macron’s words.
She was considered a troublemaker. “I’d be surprised if this doesn’t play a role in her visit,” said German Council on Foreign Relations China specialist Tim Ruehlig to Reuters.
A German foreign policy legislator, Nils Schmid, told Reuters that Macron’s words had killed a unified European China policy. Baerbock must now clarify Germany’s position on Taiwan during her visit.
On the two-day trip, the foreign minister will meet Qin Gang and Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat.
Before her visit, Baerbock said she would remind China of its obligation to urge Russia to cease its invasion of Ukraine and emphasize a shared European belief that a unilateral change in the Taiwan Strait status quo would be unacceptable.
She said China guides Europe’s strategy as a partner, competitor, and structural rival.
“It is clear to me that we have no interest in economic decoupling… but we must take a more systematic look at the risks of one-sided dependencies and reduce them,” Baerbock added.
Some EU cities, notably those in Central and Eastern Europe that value their U.S. links, will hope Baerbock’s position is closer to that of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who visited Beijing simultaneously with Macron.
Many commentators contrasted Macron’s words with von der Leyen’s, which were more critical of Beijing. She said Europe must “de-risk” politically and economically with a hardening China days before the visit.
“More von der Leyen than Macron should be her guideline,” conservative foreign policy legislator Johann Wadephul, who will go with Baerbock, told Reuters.
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