German Press: Russia – China, the ‘axis of authoritarianism’

On the occasion of the EU-China summit, but also the diplomatic background in Ukraine, the German press is critical of economic cooperation with Beijing.

The financial inspection Handelsblatt He spoke in support of the US Alliance, but said that maintaining some independence was not the answer. Among other things, we read: “Shortly before the start of the war, Chinese leader Xi and Kremlin President Putin swore allegiance to ‘friendship without limits’. Russia’s attack on Ukraine did not weaken, but rather strengthened the axis of authoritarianism. “Russia may not be identical, but they intersect at a crucial point for the two regimes: Moscow and Beijing want to limit US influence. Russia is focusing on the territories of the former Soviet Union, China in the Pacific.”

What does this mean for Europe? The Düsseldorf newspaper argues that after the change of attitude towards Russia, “Germany and Europe should also fundamentally reconsider their attitude towards China. Under its current leadership, the People’s Republic is not a partner, but a strategic adversary. “It does not mean that all trade relations should be severed. But it does mean that the EU should now have a much stricter control over the know-how that companies bring to China.”

THE “Chinese danger“

For the same subject the Stuttgarter Zeitung “For many companies, especially in the automotive and mechanical engineering industries, China is the most important market, along with the United States. What has been a mutual advantage for many years is now becoming an economic risk. “As in other respects, the war in Ukraine is sharpening our conscience to avoid dangerous addictions.”

The newspaper Tagesspiegel notes that “only China’s view on the war in Ukraine shows how difficult the EU-China summit will be on Friday. So far, diplomats in the People’s Republic have only been talking about the ‘Ukraine crisis’. They refuse to use the word ‘war’, thus emphasizing China’s close relationship with Russia, which is why Chinese diplomats, when talking about ‘peace’ in these contexts, do not mean the withdrawal of Russian troops, but an end to NATO’s enlargement to the East, as well as what they call ‘US aggression’. ”

However Süddeutsche Zeitung “European unity in recent weeks has made a strong impression on the Chinese mechanism. Until then, the working hypothesis for Beijing was that the West was declining, its days were numbered. And suddenly the Europeans, supposedly incapable of action, “They impose sanctions on Russia’s central bank. A single decree freezes much of the foreign exchange reserves. Here, even in Beijing, they are starting to wonder if it makes sense to invest more than $ 1,000 billion in US government bonds.”

A “scary suspicion“

The case of the three children from Patras that has shocked the whole of Greece is also mentioned in the German press. “33-year-old mother accused of poisoning her three daughters” is the title of a post Picturewhich, among other things, writes: “Three children dead in three years. A broken marriage. A case that shocks the whole of Greece. The 33-year-old woman killed her daughters, just so that her husband would not leave her. “This frightening suspicion has occupied the public opinion in the country for months. Now the woman was arrested in Patras, on Wednesday afternoon”.

The journalistic network RND states: “The death of three girls has occupied Greece for months. Now the suspicions turn to the 33-year-old mother. She was arrested, as one of the children has been found to have the drug ketamine. (…) “January, but it could not be saved. Ketamine is mainly used in veterinary medicine. According to Greek media, the accused had searched for the specific substance on the internet.”

Giannis Papadimitriou

SOURCE: Deutsche Welle