German climate envoy given cold shoulder on trip to Beijing after ‘dictator’ remarks
- Jennifer Morgan was granted just one meeting with a government official, China’s climate envoy Xie Zhenhua, in three days in Beijing
- She was told senior officials were too busy to meet, regarded as a sign of displeasure over Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock’s comments about Xi Jinping
A German climate envoy was given the cold shoulder during a trip to Beijing this week, in what sources believe was retaliation for Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock calling Chinese President Xi Jinping a dictator.
Jennifer Morgan, the German special envoy for international climate action, was granted just one meeting with a government official, China’s top climate envoy Xie Zhenhua, during a three-day visit to the capital.
But Morgan’s requests to meet officials from Chinese ministries went unfulfilled, according to people familiar with the trip. She was told that senior officials were too busy to meet her, in what is regarded as a signal of displeasure over Baerbock’s comments earlier this month.
“If Putin were to win this war, what sign would that be for other dictators in the world, like Xi, like the Chinese president?,” Baerbock said in a Fox News interview on September 14, comments that sparked a furious reaction from Beijing.
The German ambassador Patricia Flor was called to the foreign ministry for a dressing down, while ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning described the remarks as “extremely absurd, seriously infringing on China’s political dignity and an open political provocation”.
It is not believed that Beijing has any issue with Morgan or the German climate agenda. But she is seen as close to Baerbock, who plucked her from her role as head of Greenpeace to lead Germany’s climate policy last year, a move that required Morgan, an American, to take on German citizenship.