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Olaf Scholz (on April 25)
Photo: Michele Tantussi / REUTERS
In the debate about the Russian war of aggression, Olaf Scholz is repeatedly accused of hesitation.
There is talk of a lack of leadership, above all, of course, in the ranks of the opposition.
The SPD chancellor has now made clear statements about the Kremlin's course.
Replace the Russian attack on Ukraine with an attack on democracy.
Russia's head of state Vladimir Putin is not only pursuing the goal of destroying Ukraine.
His war is directed against everything that constitutes democracy: freedom, equality before the law, self-determination, human dignity,” Scholz wrote in a guest article for “Welt”.
In contrast, the democratic countries of the world are currently appearing more united than they have in a long time, Scholz wrote: "This shows what unites us as democracies: the conviction that law must set limits to power." Scholz is convinced: "Only they Democracy is suitable for getting the problems of the 21st century under control.«
Scholz also opposed authoritarian governments like China, which use cultural differences to explain their policies.
The Chancellor did not accept this: “Anyone who denies the existence of common human values does not know what he is talking about.
Anyone who does it anyway is simply ignorant.«
A life »in freedom, justice and dignity« is »not an ideal restricted to the West«.
The Chinese philosopher Confucius also taught a form of the rule "What you do not want done to you, do not do to others".
Travel to Japan as a sign to China
Scholz saw Europe superior to China and Russia in tackling problems created by capitalism, such as climate change.
"A look at the enormous environmental problems in Chinese cities or the inadequate preparation of the Russian economy for the post-fossil age raises doubts" as to whether they could deal with the problems better than democracies.
This requires international cooperation, and Europeans have been practicing this in the EU for decades.
Scholz is currently in Japan – and is also sending signals in the direction of China.
The trip is also a break, a foreign policy correction, the end of the Berlin tradition of always speaking to Beijing first in Asia and only then to everyone else.
Angela Merkel lived this principle, she traveled to China almost every year during her term of office, while she usually visited Japan on the side - or not at all.
Scholz wants to do things differently.
Germany must get more involved in the "Indo-Pacific region," he says.
jok/AFP
