Dependent on China: The EU could face the next Ukraine moment

Created: 05/25/2022, 09:28

By: Sebastian Horsch

Many people in Germany have a glorified image of China, comments Sebastian Horsch.

© picture alliance/dpa/XinHua/Marcus sleep

Beijing and Moscow think similarly little of human rights.

However, many people's image of China seems glorified.

A comment by Sebastian Horsch.

Munich - There are shocking images that document the mistreatment of hundreds of thousands of people in Chinese re-education camps.

But honestly: do they really come as a surprise?

For some it is.

Similar to the image of Russia that many Germans have, a certain transfiguration has crept in when looking at the Far East.

The fact that President Xi said goodbye to "China's old friend" Angela Merkel with flowery words when she retired in October shows how close economic relations have become under the chancellor.

China: human rights just a facade

But the "boundless friendship" that the leaders in Beijing and Moscow have also vowed to each other is based not least on a similar basic understanding of what human rights are - a useful facade that EU countries have to fool in order to avoid business relations disturb.

They, in turn, criticize a bit, but don't really want to know exactly what's going on in Chinese "further training institutions".

The way in which Beijing enforces its “corona measures” already shows who you are dealing with here.

And now?

One thing is clear: it doesn't seem to work without China for the time being.

But even if they cannot do without trade with the People's Republic, Europe and Germany should think twice about how much economic dependence we can allow ourselves on Beijing.

Otherwise, the next Ukraine moment could soon threaten us if China were to take military action on Taiwan.

Sebastian Horsch