China looks to reboot Germany, Europe relations, amid Ukraine war fallout

A top Chinese diplomat pitched renewed cooperation to senior German officials on Friday in what analysts call part of a wider effort to restore Chinese relations around Europe after a downward spiral led by Beijing’s support for Moscow.

China was ready to “fully restart” exchanges with Germany and Europe, Wang Yi, the Communist Party Central Committee’s foreign affairs commission director, was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency.

Wang was speaking to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

He had made the same pledge to French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday and a day later to an Italian deputy prime minister, citing improvements in China’s own economy after the lifting of Covid-19 controls.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang told his Belgian counterpart in a call on February 10 that China supported the entry of more “quality” Belgian products into the Chinese market.

China’s calls for closer ties with Europe come as it grapples with strained relations with the United States over trade, economics, technology and geopolitics.

Those tensions have worsened in recent weeks with Washington’s decision to shoot down what it said was a Chinese spy balloon and what Beijing insisted was a civilian vessel.

In a speech at the conference on Saturday, Wang called on Europe to choose cooperation with China.

“In an increasingly multipolar world, the choices we make have a huge impact on where the world goes ... If we choose peace and stability, a new cold war will not break out,” he said.

He also defended China’s position on the war in Ukraine, saying Beijing supported peaceful resolution and opposed “forces” that tried to stop peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.

“We do not know why the process [of negotiations] was cut short. Some forces might not want to see peace talks materialise, they don’t care about the life and death of Ukrainians, nor the harm to Europe,” Wang said, without specifying the target of its criticism.

“They might have strategic goals larger than Ukraine itself.”

Wang said China would soon issue a paper on its position over Ukraine.

But he sidestepped a question on whether he would meet his US counterpart Antony Blinken on the sidelines of the conference, opting instead to call the US response to the balloon saga “hysterical”.

China is trying to restore frayed ties in Europe, according to experts. The European Union does nearly €700 billion (US$746 billion) in annual two-way trade with China and has become a major node in the Chinese 149-nation Belt and Road Initiative to expand commerce through new infrastructure.

“The world sees China facilitating Russia’s war in Ukraine,” said Stephen Nagy, a senior associate professor of politics and international studies at International Christian University in Tokyo.

“I think [China] is in a very tough position,” Nagy said. “They have lost a lot of goodwill in their relations with Europe and see that it’s critical they rebuild that relationship because the EU is very strongly aligned now with the United States.”

The EU has asked China not to back Russia in the year-old war with Ukraine, a country with widespread support in the 27-member bloc. Some European nations have condemned Beijing’s pressure on Taiwan and on Hong Kong, largely during the pandemic when Europe’s in-person diplomacy with China dwindled to a modern-day low point.

On Friday, the European Union criticised Beijing’s treatment of Tibetans, Uygurs in Xinjiang, and other minority populations.

The German Federal Foreign Service said in a statement that Munich Security Conference discussions would “centre” on the Russian-Ukraine war as well as on China. The 59-year-old event is for discussions on global security issues.

“A very important task is to express to European countries China’s real position, which is that China has a neutral view and that the war should end early,” said Wang Yong, a professor at the school of international studies at Peking University.

Wang, the Chinese diplomat, has expressed that view to several European leaders this month.

Nagy said Chinese officials hoped to break down European pro-US sentiment as Beijing’s ties with Washington remained strained. The two powers are sparring over trade, tech and geopolitics.

Despite US support for Ukraine, Wang Yong said, “we see a result that the war keeps going and could get bigger”.

Wang Yi told German Foreign Affairs Minister Annalena Baerbock on Friday that the longer the Ukraine crisis lasted, “the more damage Europe will suffer”. He pointed to explosions in September along the Nord Stream offshore natural gas pipelines between Russia and northern Europe.

China would need time to “win back the EU”, especially if it wanted European leaders to become “a joint bargaining chip against the US”, said Chen Yi-fan, assistant professor of diplomacy and international relations at Tamkang University in Taiwan.

He said China was most likely to succeed by stepping up trade and investment.

“The old European countries are hoping to re-engage with China,” Chen said. “It’s pure business – money talks everywhere.”

European leaders have been mixed on China’s overtures.

Scholz travelled to China in November and asked his counterparts for reciprocal market access and protection of the intellectual property rights of German companies. But last week Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani warned Beijing at a university forum in Italy against aggression toward Taiwan.

Wang Yi is scheduled to visit Hungary and Russia this month as well.