On US television, Annalena Baerbock calls the Chinese president a dictator. Angered, Beijing summoned the German ambassador. The Foreign Minister looks calm.
The Chinese government summoned the German ambassador in anger at the statements made by Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens). This was announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman. Ambassador Patricia Flor was summoned in connection with Baerbock’s description of Chinese President Xi Jinping as a “dictator.”
The statement was made in an interview with US broadcaster “Fox News” last week. Baerbock literally said:
China’s Foreign Ministry called Baerbock’s comments on Monday “extremely absurd” and “a serious violation of China’s political dignity and a clear political provocation.” Beijing is “deeply unhappy” about this. According to the statement made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Flor was summoned on Sunday.
Baerbock only reacts briefly
Such an act of diplomatic protest is not unusual in German-China relations. Such ambassadors were last called during the visit of Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) to Taiwan in the spring and following the foreign minister’s statement on Taiwan by the G7 group of states in August 2022.
Baerbock reacts only briefly to criticism from China. “I noted that,” the minister said during his visit to New York on the occasion of the UN general debate on Monday. He did not want to comment further on the matter.
Source: ZDF
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