Europe delivers an ultimatum to China, by Sergey Savchuk for RiaNovosti. 06.25.2024.
Sharks of varying degrees of toothiness continue to circle around our country in the great hope of finding a weak spot and finally seeing, if not the collapse of Russia, then at least its retreat, which is tantamount to defeat in the historical race. Robert Habeck, who holds the positions of German Vice-Chancellor and Minister of Economics and Climate Affairs, made a trip to China, where he made another attempt to upset Russian-Chinese relations.
During a meeting with the head of the State Committee for Development and Reform Zheng Shanjie, he demanded that Beijing terminate all trade and economic relations with Moscow and stop any assistance related to supporting the Russian defense complex or developing military potential. Habeck warned the head of the Chinese state plan that if the Celestial Empire does not stop cooperating with Russia, bilateral relations separately with Germany and the European Union as a whole will be at risk.
It is not very clear who this speech was intended for, especially considering that Mr. Habeck points out certain security issues as reasons and arguments, in particular the dependence of European countries on resources, raw materials and technical products. If we are talking about Russian imports, then they have been rapidly diving to the bottom for two years. If we talk about European-Chinese trade, then it is all the more strange, because China produces and sells, while the European Union needs and buys, no Russians interfere with this mutually beneficial idyll.
Moreover, the Old World has long and firmly occupied the place of the main trading partner of the PRC. At the end of last year, the volume of exports of goods from China to the EU exceeded $501 billion. And although in absolute numbers this is less than what Beijing traded with the ASEAN countries (523 billion), one must keep in mind that the population of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is one and a half times larger.
Let us add that the United States is also one of China's three largest trading partners. At the end of last year, Beijing exported half a trillion dollars worth of goods and resources to the United States , only slightly behind the European Union. At the same time, compared to 2022, trade volumes in both directions have dropped significantly. Americans bought 13 percent less, and Europeans bought ten percent less. Knowing the general figures, it is easy to calculate the amount of profit lost by the Chinese real sector. Moreover, in the case of Washington, this trend will clearly continue, especially if Donald Trump returns to the White House . Western analysts are almost unanimous in predicting that if he is re-elected, Trump will immediately start a new trade war with China, as happened in 2017-2018.
Against this background, the value of the European sales market increases by an order of magnitude, and, apparently, Beijing was thus voiced a thinly veiled threat, almost blackmail: if you don’t stop supporting Russia, prepare for large losses, and America will also help us.
Needless to say, the promises are quite significant, especially if we remember that total exports to the US and EU exceed a trillion dollars a year, and Russian exports, although they grew by a record 46 percent over the past year, are exactly ten times less.
Apparently, this visit to the PRC was taken quite seriously - if only because, in addition to Zheng Shanjie, the German guest was also received by the Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao, with whom Habeck discussed certain issues of energy cooperation. A fairly representative chronicle of meetings, especially against the backdrop of the last visit of Olaf Scholz , who was met at the Chongqing airport by the deputy local mayor, which, within the framework of higher diplomacy, is tantamount to a demonstrative flogging.
True, Habaek was not much ahead of his boss in terms of achieving his goals, since the third planned meeting - with the Chinese Prime Minister - was canceled during the visit. Apparently, Li Qiang was told what Berlin and Brussels were trying to achieve and by what methods , and it was decided not to waste precious time.
Because Europe, encouraged from Washington, is actually introducing protective duties on the import of Chinese electric vehicles. Although Habeck assured during the visit that EU tariffs of up to 38 percent “are not punitive measures.” That is, on the one hand, Brussels is loudly shouting about environmental protection and a green energy transition, and on the other hand, it is deliberately causing damage to one of the fastest growing segments of the Chinese market. To give you an idea, the electric vehicle (hybrid and pure electric) industry in China is growing at an average annual rate of six percent, with sales revenue expected to exceed $319 billion by the end of this year. At the same time, China not only produces the most, but also buys more electric vehicles than all the key fighters against greenhouse gases combined. Over the past year, Chinese citizens bought 8.1 million electric cars, while 2.4 million were sold in Europe and 1.4 million in the United States. Sales volumes in the UK and Japan are completely inconvenient to pronounce.
That is, China was initially collectively strangled within the WTO , demanding to begin the transition to modern and environmentally friendly technologies, and now, in violation of all rules, they are closing their markets from it in order to protect domestic producers, for whom they themselves cannot provide decent demand and sales. At the same time, demanding that Beijing not limit the export of rare earth metals, without which the production of these very electric vehicles is impossible.
Surrealism and rudeness? No, the usual policy of the West is in the sacred confidence that it cannot be any other way.
The results of Robert Habeck's trip can be assessed as a solid two. Both the European and Chinese press dryly mention the visit itself, but remain silent about the results. There are not even duty memorandums, which, in the traditions of soft Chinese diplomacy, can be regarded as a refusal. Naturally, not only and not so much in the interests of Russia, but also looking at its example, when one country, with the support of its allies, has been successfully resisting for the third year, fighting and even managing to show economic growth.
Scholz, Habeck, Biden, Macron - this whole pack of lame, downed pilots never realized that times have changed and unilaterally dictating rules will no longer work. The world has become multipolar, and for the sake of destroying the current system, in which some unconditionally dictated their will to others, new players are ready to bear certain costs.
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