China seeks to reassure Germany over support for peace efforts in Ukraine

The country’s ambassador to Berlin Wu Ken told a newspaper that Beijing is committed to ending the conflict but Europe and the US must play an active part too
Wu insists Germany should not see China as a threat, but warns against efforts to freeze out companies such as Huawei from the country’s 5G network

China-EU relations

Sylvie Zhuangin Beijing

Published: 7:07pm, 13 Aug 2023

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China is not a rival to Germany but a partner, the country’s ambassador to Berlin has said in an interview where he tried to paint the country as a huge market German businesses can tap into, as well as an active player in trying to end the Ukraine war.

The European Union is currently developing a strategy for “de-risking” its relations with China. Germany, which has a huge business presence in China, has supported that policy but made it clear it is not interested in decoupling.

Ambassador Wu Ken told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper that China will not give up on its peacekeeping efforts in Ukraine, but the crisis cannot be resolved without Europe and the United States playing an active role.

When asked whether China could not ask Russia to stop the war, he replied that the crisis primarily affects European security interests and if “they [Europe and the US] don’t play an active part, the crisis will not end anytime soon, no matter how China acts”. He went on to say that China and Russia enjoy “good neighbourly relations.

China has said it is keen to play a constructive role and issued a 12-point peace plan in February. In April, President Xi Jinping held his first telephone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky since the start of the war and he has also sent special envoys to Russia, Ukraine and other parts of Europe to play a mediator’s role.

US hails China’s attendance in Saudi-led Ukraine peace talks as ‘productive’

However, he pointed out that China did not start the crisis and was not directly involved and said: “My impression is, although the Americans have a special influence on Europe’s security, they don’t seem so interested in achieving a quick political solution.”

Beijing has refused to condemn the Russian invasion, despite regular requests from German leaders, and the West as a whole, to help end the crisis and a United Nations vote on the first anniversary of the war that overwhelmingly called for Russia to withdraw its troops immediately and unconditionally from Ukraine.

Beijing’s ambivalence over the war has harmed relations with Germany with potential implications for future trade relations. Berlin’s China Strategy also warned that in some areas, Chinese technology could have military and intelligence uses that could undermine “international peace and security”.

More broadly, it said “de-risking is urgently needed” and warned of the danger of becoming too reliant on one trade partner.

When asked about the China Strategy, Wu criticised its designation of China as a “competitor and systemic rival” saying it did not align with the two countries’ mutual interests.

China’s ambassador to Germany Wu Ken. Photo: dpa

“The consensus between China and Germany outweighs the differences, cooperation surpasses competition, and the two sides are partners rather than adversaries,” he added.

In the interview, Wu also warned against the “politicisation of business and commercial activities” following German media reports that the government is considering excluding Chinese telecoms firms such as Huawei and ZTE from the country’s 5G networks because they had been identified as a potential security risk.

The ambassador added that China will “take all necessary measures to defend Chinese companies’ legitimate rights” if they are excluded from German telecoms networks without real proof that they threaten the country’s security. He declined to be more specific.

China ‘firmly opposes’ possible German ban of Huawei, ZTE 5G equipment

Huawei has a long history of involvement in the German market and the firm rapidly expanded its footprint in Germany under the previous chancellor Angela Merkel, on whose watch trade with China flourished.

Germany was China’s sixth largest trading country in 2021, according to the World Trade Organization, and China has been Germany’s largest trading partner for the past seven years. This relationship also accounts for around 30 per cent of the total trade between China and the EU by volume.