German Chancellor Olaf Scholz got a slap from Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Tuesday over Europe’s turn toward trade protectionism — and little fresh commitment on Ukraine.
Despite the state media’s portrayal of a friendly setting — featuring tea and a walk with the Chinese president — Beijing’s grievances over Europe’s looming war on green tech were obvious during his meeting with the leader of the largest EU economy.
“China’s exports of electric vehicles, lithium batteries and photovoltaic products [solar panels] are a massive contribution to the world’s effort to tackle climate change,” Xi said.
The Chinese leader was responding to an investigation Brussels launched last year into Beijing’s electric vehicle subsidies. More recently the European Commission has announced a probe into state support for Chinese wind turbines being pitched for European generation projects, which followed similar checks on rail and solar projects.
He told Scholz, who was in China for a four-day visit, that “the two sides should beware of the rise of protectionism,” and hinted that Berlin should not go down the path of de-risking, as there’s no risk whatsoever in the bilateral ties.
Stressing that Beijing “is not a security threat”, Xi said Chinese-German cooperation should not be construed as a risk.
“Be it traditional fields such as machine manufacturing and automobiles, or new areas like green transition, digitalization or Artificial Intelligence, the two countries have huge potential for win-win cooperation yet to be explored,” Xi said, according to state media Xinhua.
Scholz, flanked by a business delegation made up of top German executives eager to keep their lucrative business opportunities in China, focused his opening remarks not on trade but Ukraine.
He called on Xi to “contribute more to a just peace in Ukraine.” “The Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and Russia’s rearmament have had a very significant negative impact on security in Europe. They directly affect our core interests,” he told Xi.
Xi has not offered any fresh commitments on Ukraine, instead supporting “all efforts conducive to peaceful resolution of the [Ukraine] crisis, as well as the timely convening of an international peace conference recognized by both Russia and Ukraine.”
He called for “the equal participation of all sides, and where all peace plans could be discussed” — a strong hint that Europe should invite Russia to the table. He asked the West not to “pour fuel on the fire,” China’s euphemism for sending weapons to Ukraine.
