China’s Foreign Minister (MFA) Qin Gang will visit Germany, France and Norway this week, China’s diplomacy said in a statement today.
“At the invitation of the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Norway, the foreign minister Qin Gang will visit the three countries between May 8 and 12″the ministry said in an information note, without giving further details.
Germany’s head of diplomacy, Annalena Baerbock, visited China at the end of April, where she assured that a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait could “horror scene” with implications for the world economy.
Baerbock’s trip came months after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited the Asian country, where he showed a willingness to work with China while admitting differences between the two countries.
Qin Gang’s meeting with her French counterpart Catherine Colonna follows French President Emmanuel Macron’s three-day state visit to China last April, in what was his first trip to the country since 2019.
European leaders have repeatedly urged Beijing in recent months to use its influence with Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
Since the start of the war, China, which has opposed sanctions against Moscow, has reiterated the importance of respecting the territorial integrity of countries, including Ukraine, and the “legitimate security concerns of all parties”, referring to Russia.
China sees its partnership with Russia as fundamental to opposing the liberal democratic order at a time when its relationship with the United States is also going through a period of great tension.
The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory, launched on February 24 last year, plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
Source: DN
