Europe Must Avoid Wishful Thinking on China in 2023
Germany and France seem to be willing to “compartmentalize” their relations with Beijing, excluding the difficult issues. That’s the way best not taken.
Scholz and Xi in Beijing, November 2022.
Photographer: KAY NIETFELD/AFPIt was the year that the scales fell from Europe’s eyes on China. Heading into 2023, the clarity engendered by Beijing’s stance on the Russian invasion of Ukraine is in danger of being lost. Leaders of a continent beset by soaring energy prices and economic hardship show signs of wanting to pick up again with the world’s largest trading nation as if nothing has happened. That would be a mistake. Wishful thinking was never the basis of a sound relationship.
It’s worth recapping to see just how the tone has changed since Vladimir Putin’s troops crossed into Ukraine in late February. The attack came less than three weeks after Chinese leader Xi Jinping proclaimed a “no limits” partnership with Russia that amounted to a blueprint to remake the rules-based international order. After the invasion, Beijing professed to be neutral and reiterated its respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty. But it has consistently refused to criticize Russia. Officials blamed the US for the conflict and state media echoed its pro-Moscow narrative, while excluding reports of Ukrainian suffering. It is clear where the Chinese government’s sympathies lie.