Good morning, dear readers,
if the Munich Security Conference should serve to relax the relationship between China and the USA, one must state: mission not accomplished. The US has information that China is “considering providing lethal support” to Russia, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on US television on Sunday. When asked what he meant by that, Blinken replied: “Weapons, primarily weapons.”
He did not say which concrete indications this finding is based on. He made it clear to China’s top foreign policy leader, Wang Yi, that such support poses a serious problem for US-China relations. The meeting between Blinken and Wang at the Munich Security Conference had not promised a cozy atmosphere beforehand. Relations between the two countries have been strained following the incursion of a suspected Chinese spy balloon into US airspace earlier this month.
The last time he attended the Munich Security Conference in person, he was still Chinese foreign minister. He has since risen to become China’s top foreign policy maker.
(Photo: Getty Images)
Because Russia was not represented at the security conference, Wang also played the role of the other at this gala show of Western unity: The human reminder that the world is by no means as united on Ukraine and Russia is not nearly as isolated internationally as we would like. What Wang had to say was therefore harder to bear, but also more relevant than the myriad variations of “Ukraine must win/Putin must not win this war” heard from other speakers.
This also applies to the “position paper on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis”, which Politburo member Wang announced in Munich on Saturday. It is not yet clear what exactly Beijing’s proposal might contain, which is expected ahead of the first anniversary of the war on February 24, 2022, or on the day itself.
Observers fear that Beijing’s initiative will try to drive a wedge between its allies in the Ukraine war and the countries of the Global South. Alicja Bachulska, China expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told Handelsblatt: “They will announce something, but it will be very similar to what they have already said.”
The concern in diplomatic circles in Munich: A “peace plan” could be designed in such a way that, although at first glance it portrays China as a peace broker, it does not sufficiently take into account the needs of Ukraine in detail. For example, in the announced paper, China could demand a halt to arms deliveries, which would primarily benefit Russia.
(Photo: Private)
Volodymyr Pikuzo has to ensure that this stream of weapons does not run dry and that Ukraine can continue to defend itself against the Russian attackers. The 37-year-old lawyer is head of the Ukrainian agency for armaments procurement, comparable to the Bundeswehr procurement office. Organizing weapons and ammunition is usually a matter of months or even years. But Pikuzo doesn’t have that much time: “If there’s an offer, I’ll make the contract in a few hours.”
He knows that every day that important deliveries are delayed can mean death for some of his compatriots at the front. When asked if he wanted to move on to a club that evening, Pikuzo answered in Munich: “Are there howitzers there?”. Otherwise the visit would have no meaning for him.
Boris Pistorius has proven to be a support for the traffic light coalition these days: A month after taking office as Defense Minister, the 62-year-old, as a newcomer, immediately took the top spot in the ZDF Politbarometer in the evaluation of the ten most important politicians according to sympathy and performance. Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) follow at a great distance in second and third place.
However, his popularity does not give Pistorius the freedom to fool in his own party – not even on the carnival weekend. SPD party leader Saskia Esken reacted severely to Pistorius’ call for ten billion euros more a year for the Bundeswehr: “Ten billion euros is a lot of money. At the same time, the coalition partner FDP insists that we return to the debt brake and budget consolidation.”
In an interview with the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, Esken also said: “We have set up a special fund of 100 billion euros for the Bundeswehr in order to be able to guarantee our national defense and alliance capability. It is now important that Department of Defense procurement is empowered to target this money. Then we’ll talk more.”
The SPD leader as the guardian of budgetary discipline. We live in unusual times.
One often reads that more and more money is being inherited in Germany, how low the inheritance tax is and how unfair it all is. Yes, inheritance is easy in Germany. Difficult to disinherit.
Take Henrik Thiele, son of the late multi-billionaire Heinz Hermann Thiele. Klein-Henrik is expected to receive only one-thousandth of the 25 billion euros that his father amassed with the automotive supplier Knorr-Bremse, among others. He had signed an agreement during his father’s lifetime to waive his compulsory portion and in return received a settlement of 25 million euros. He is now challenging this in court – so far without success.
Our financial reporter Laura de La Motte has written a guide to the dark art of disinheritance for everyone who has had a great financial life, but only so-so in family life.
My most important finding from this: If you want to prevent close relatives or your spouse from inheriting the so-called compulsory portion, you have to specify this in your will. And on the other hand, he has to have his dear family sign a waiver of inheritance or compulsory portion. A will alone is just as insufficient as a declaration without a will.
If the relatives, unlike Henrik Thiele, are smart enough not to agree to this waiver, disinheritance becomes tricky. But even in this case there are ways and means. By far the most elegant, of course: to be reconciled with his family.
I wish you a Rose Monday, which gives you more than the compulsory part.
Best regards
Your Christian Rickens
Editor-in-Chief Handelsblatt
