Annalena Baerbock did not have an easy task for her first official visit to China since her arrival at the head of German diplomacy in 2021. Arriving in Beijing a few days after Emmanuel Macron, the green Minister of Foreign Affairs, clearly stood out of the French president whose remarks, made on the return plane, outraged a large part of the German political establishment.
While Emmanuel Macron pleaded for the “strategic autonomy” of Europeans, refusing that they are “followers” on the question of Taiwan, caught “in a disruption of the world and conflicts that would not be ours”, Annalena Baerbock instead spoke on behalf of Europe and explicitly warned the regime in Beijing: no question of using force in Taiwan. “Conflicts must be resolved peacefully,” she firmly reminded her Chinese counterpart Qin Gang, to whom she conveyed Berlin’s “concern” about the situation in Taiwan.
Another focus of this visit is the war in Ukraine. Annalena Baerbock called on China to “put pressure” on Russia to “stop its aggression in Ukraine”. The head of German diplomacy believes that President Xi Jiping’s recent trip to Moscow has proven that no other country has more influence on Vladimir Putin. After China worked on the recent diplomatic rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Annalena Baerbock hopes that Beijing, which for a year has never officially condemned the Russian invasion, will be able to play a similar role between Russia and Ukraine. This “special responsibility” rests with him as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
Annalena Baerbock, who did not hesitate to address the subject of respect for human rights in China, was sharply put in her place by her Chinese counterpart, casting a chill over the joint press conference. “What China needs least right now,” Qin Gang reminded him dryly, “is a lesson-giver from the West.” Annalena Baerbock refused to give in and stood up to him, mentioning the existence of “common standards” on this issue around the world and reminding him that the United Nations Charter and the UN Convention on the Rights of the men are texts that all members of the UN are required to respect.