German chancellor yesterday urged Beijing to influence Moscow Olaf Soltzduring a meeting with the President of China Xi Jinping, implying that he is investing in Chinese mediation to start negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. “I told President Xi what is important China use their influence against Russia,” Soltz said characteristically. According to the Chancellor, the two leaders agreed “that the threat to use nuclear weapons is irresponsible and dangerous.” For his part, the Chinese President emphatically stressed that “all the parties involved should exercise restraint, conduct direct contacts as soon as possible, create conditions for the resumption of negotiations, and jointly oppose the use of nuclear weapons.” This was an indirect but unequivocal signal to Moscow, although neither Xi nor Premier Li Keqiang was named. Russia in their official statements.

The German chancellor arrived in Beijing, accompanied by a group of directors from 12 German business giants, including the heads of Volkswagen, Siemens, Deutsche Bank and BASF, and so far in Germany the dispute over the allocation of 25% of Cosco has not yet subsided. port of Hamburg. As part of the one-day lightning visit, the heads of 12 German industrial giants scheduled closed-door meetings with their Chinese business colleagues. The German Chancellor’s visit to China is the first visit by a G7 leader in almost three years and coincides with a period in which Germany is on the brink of recession. However, this is happening at the same time as the Russian invasion of Ukraine is underway, and reinforces Western speculation about the close relationship between Beijing and Moscow, and thus the close relationship between the European economies and the Chinese economy, as well as the great convergence of economic interests. between the largest economy in Europe and the economic giant of Asia. At the same time, concern is growing in Germany over its close economic relationship with China, culminating in the participation of the German ruling coalition in Cosco’s acquisition of part of the terminal at the port of Hamburg. Acute disagreements between partners in the government coalition forced the German Chancellor, an ardent supporter of the relevant agreement, to compromise with a reduction in the terminal rate from 35% to 24.9%.

Accompanied by a group of directors of 12 German business giants, the German Chancellor arrived in the Chinese capital.

However, with a looming recession and an energy crisis hitting its industries hard, Germany cannot afford to lose or worsen its economic ties with China, which has been its most important trading partner for the past six years, and the cost of bilateral trade has plummeted. increased by 15% over the past two years and reached 245 billion euros compared to last year. Berlin has also been forced to sever longstanding ties with Moscow in an attempt to replace Russian gas with other suppliers, as much of Europe has done. As Rafał Ulatowski, professor of political science at the University of Warsaw, comments to CNN, “when it comes to China, it is to be expected that Germany will not want to lose even this market, even this partner.” It should also be noted that the Kiel Institute for the World Economy estimates that if the EU’s economic and trade relations with China, the German economy will shrink by 1%.

However, with Western economies consistently imposing economic sanctions on Russia and China maintaining its “neutral stance” on the war, fears are mounting in Europe about economic relations with China. However, in a meeting with Olaf Scholz, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged Germany to work closely with China in this “difficult and unstable” international situation. He also expressed hope that with the assistance of the German Chancellor, “mutual understanding and trust between the two countries will be strengthened, pragmatic cooperation will deepen in various fields, and a new stage of Sino-German relations will be charted.”