Baerbock announces coordinated G7 winter aid for Ukraine

Muenster Hostess Annalena Baerbock chose the venue with ulterior motives: the “Peace of Westphalia” to end the 30-year war was signed in the historic Peace Hall of the town hall in Münster.

One of the “birthdays of modern international law,” said the German Foreign Minister (Greens) on Thursday at the start of the two-day meeting of the foreign ministers of the G7 countries. This is where “fundamental concepts such as the equality and sovereignty of states” were born.

Now the group of states, which Germany is currently chairing, is to discuss the lessons learned from the Ukraine war – above all about greater diversification of economic relations. And that means, above all, a way out of dependence on China.

The focus is on “how we don’t repeat the mistakes we made in the past in Russia policy with regard to China,” said the 41-year-old Green politician at the opening of the two-day G7 deliberations. And she said it on the very day that Chancellor Olaf Scholz left for a state visit to Beijing.

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This once again made it clear how much she had become the Chancellor’s opponent when it came to China policy.

Baerbock sees China as a rival

Baerbock was at the center of the critical discussion about the timing of Scholz’s trip to China. With the sentence “The Chancellor decided the time of the trip”, she distanced herself from the SPD Chancellor and from the fact that the German head of government was the first Western politician to meet China’s head of state and party, Xi Jinping, after the party congress ended a third term in office for Xi has agreed.

Xi Jinping

Beijing is not only a partner on international issues, but also a competitor and a much stronger rival than it used to be when it comes to understanding an international order.

(Photo: AP)

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China has changed so much in recent years that Beijing “has no longer just become a partner on international issues, but has increasingly become a systemic rival,” said Baerbock at the start of the meeting in Münster. Her foreign ministry used this reasoning to protest against the chancellor’s decision to allow the state-owned Chinese shipping company Cosco to take a 24.9 percent stake in the Hamburg port terminal at Tollerort.

The G7 group of states, which includes Germany, the USA, Canada, Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan and the EU, is now trying to develop a joint new China strategy – just as the EU and the federal government are doing in parallel. However, it is not yet clear whether the Foreign Ministry or the Chancellery will prevail on the tone of the new German China strategy.

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According to Baerbock, a new China strategy is about “fair competitive conditions, the question of human rights and the question of the recognition of international law as the basis for international cooperation”. For the time being, however, there was no discussion about sanctions against China and the ban on chip deliveries there, according to participants. But the discussion about China will continue under the upcoming Japanese G7 presidency in 2023.

G7 meeting in Munster

Baerbock emphasized that she carefully chose the location of the meeting given its symbolism.

(Photo: dpa)

Japan wants to work with the other G7 countries to “overcome the dependency on certain countries for important goods,” said Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi to the Handelsblatt. In recent years, there have been attempts by some states to put economic pressure “on partners to take arbitrary and non-transparent trade measures”.

In order to counter China’s influence in other countries around the world, for example through the New Silk Road initiative, the G7 countries have already “put together large infrastructure projects worldwide,” said Baerbock. The EU alone wants to make 300 billion euros available for its Global Gateway initiative to expand international supply chains.

Antony Blinken and Annalena Baerbock

Before the foreign ministers’ meeting, the two politicians met for talks.

(Photo: AP)

Baerbock had come to Münster from a trip to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, where she and a German business delegation had explored opportunities for the supply of raw materials and the export of renewable energies and “green” hydrogen. Together with the EU, Germany is trying to make better use of the potential of these former Soviet republics and to free them from the security and economic grip of China and Russia.

Baerbock’s “feminist foreign policy”

The 41-year-old also underlined her claim to a “feminist foreign policy” with her delegation, which accompanied her to the talks with foreign ministers such as the US department head Antony Blinken: Among the eight German participants there was only one man.

And when she looked at the paintings in Münster’s Friedenssaal, Baerbock told her counterparts – among those gathered there were only two other women, the foreign ministers of Canada and France – that there were no women among the signatories to the Peace of Westphalia, even if the peacemakers of Münster “at that time also had long hair.

Baerbock is Germany’s first female foreign minister and, together with the political director and other state secretaries, has conquered the former “male domain” of the Foreign Office. Women are also given preference in the selection of top German embassies abroad.

When the German chief diplomat travels abroad, women’s organizations are often on the agenda. Among other things, Baerbock justified this “feminist foreign policy” with the fact that women placed much greater value on conflict avoidance and peace.

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