German Foreign Minister says China a challenge to 'how we live together'

Foreign Minister of Germany Annalena Baerbock stated on Tuesday that China was a threat to the “fundamentals of how we live together in this world” and that Germany will cooperate with other smaller countries like Australia to defuse the Indo-Pacific situation. Baerbock claimed that Germany’s attitude towards Beijing had changed as a result of Australia’s experience with trade restrictions imposed by China in a video talk to an Australian think group on international affairs. “China has changed, and that’s why our policy towards China also needs to change,” she told the Lowy Institute. While China was a partner on climate change, trade and investment, it was “a rival when it comes to the very fundamentals of how we live together in this world,” she said. “What we see is the emergence of a world of increasing systemic rivalry, in which some autocratic regimes seek to bend the international order to increase their spheres of influence, using not only military might but also economic clout.” Germany sought to stop this, she said, because many nations were turning to China because they had no other options. She stated that while Germany wouldn’t encourage further conflict between the blocs, it would diversify its economic relationships and reduce risk. “We learned painfully how vulnerable our one-sided dependencies on Russian energy imports made us. We don’t want to repeat that mistake,” she said. In order to develop a direct supply of rare earths and lithium from Australian mines, Germany needed to eliminate the “risky diversion” that the majority of Australian lithium took to be processed in China, according to the spokeswoman. She asserted that mining and processing were geopolitical. Half of the world’s lithium is produced in Australia, which is also blocking two Chinese acquisitions in rare earths companies this year. Australia is looking for foreign investment to set up domestic processing. Half of all cargo ships transit via the Taiwan Strait, according to Baerbock, highlighting the Indo Pacific region’s economic significance to Europe. “Any unilateral change in the status quo across the Taiwan Strait would be unacceptable, even more so if this were to include coercive or military means,” she added. Germany established its first embassy in the Pacific Islands in Fiji on Saturday after taking part in the 13-nation Talisman Sabre military exercises in Australia last month. (With agency inputs)