Germany breaks ranks with France; Baerbock draws Taiwan red-line for China
Photo credit Twitter Wang Lutong, a Chinese official.
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, April 15: Within a week, Europe appears deeply divided on ways to engage China, while President Xi Jinping in his third term flashes muscles to bully Taiwan and other neighbours. Germany gave a sharp lesson in geopolitics to French President Emmanuel Macron who apparently was charmed by his Chinese host to break ranks with Europe and the US to talk of aloofness if Taiwan question arose for the world community.
On her first day during China visit, German Foreign Minister Annalaena Baerbock in the presence of her Chinese counterpart Qin Gang gave a reality check to Beijing on the question of Taiwan. “Conflicts can only be solved peacefully. A unilateral, to say nothing of a violent, change of the status quo would be unacceptable to us as Europeans,” Baerbock made it clear to her Chinese hosts.
To drive home the significance of Taiwan for the world much against Macron’s arguments for aloofness, Baerbock underlined that the free passage of the global trade through the Taiwan Strait is critical for the global trade and the economy. She stressed that 50 per cent of the trade, besides 70 per cent of semi-conductor pass through the Taiwan Straits.
Clearly, a Chinese lordship over the Taiwan Straits has the potential to yoke the global trade to the diktats of the authoritarian Communist regime in Beijing. China has shown scant regards for the rules-based international order, which has been accorded the top priority in the agenda of Quad, G20 and G7.
Macron was much ridiculed for his claims that “Europe should not get caught up in crises that are not ours”. While Germany and France are seen to be bending by their backs to charm China for economic reasons, Baerbock served a veiled warning to Beijing not to cross the Taiwan red-line. While Germany is the economic powerhouse in Europe, France aspires to be the third power in the global order after the US and Russia.
Allan Beattie, a strategic affairs thinker, argued that Europe suffers from lack of unity and trust. Prof. James Laurenceson, another strategic affairs export, told special broadcasting service of Australia that Canberra may not remain neutral in the event China uses force against Taiwan. With Xi rolling out an aggressive foreign policy, hosting the Europeans to test their tolerance on Taiwan question, the new-found Chinese ally France risks getting isolated amid growing distrust of Beijing.
Meanwhile, China made it clear that in the presence of the German foreign minister that Taiwan independence forces and external intervention are the causes to instability across the Strait. “If countries outside the region value peace, they should observe one-China principle and stop interference in China’s internal affairs,” Qin remarked.
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