LOS ANGELES.–German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, 65, after meeting with 71-year-old Chinese President Xi Jinping in Paris, dispatched a German warship to the South China Sea, in what will no doubt be seen as a belligerent act by Beijing. Scholz has played into 81-year-old President Joe Biden’s foreign policy that confronts China for interfering with international waterways in the South China sea where some 40% of Europe’s goods go through international water in what the German government calls the rules-based order. Former President Barack Obama took China in 2015 to The Hague’s International Court of Arbitration over China interfering with navigation in the South China Sea by building military installations in the Spratly Islands and other shallow atolls. Obama won his case with China in 2016 but lost his relations with Communist China disputing U.S. claims.
President Joe Biden’s, 81,overarching foreign policy has drawn the European Union into his old dispute with China, pushing China into a close economic, military and political alliance with the Russian Federation. Since Feb. 24, 2022, Biden dragged the EU into his proxy war in Ukraine against the Kremlin, making the EU and enemy of the Russia. Before the Ukraine War, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel established close economic ties with 71-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin, buying some 25% of Germany’s petroleum and natural gas from Moscow. Putin and Merkel worked together on completing the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipelines to easily supply Germany the natural gas needed for years. Yet once the Ukraine War started Feb. 24, 2022, Scholz followed Biden in boycotting Russian fossil fuel products.
Speaking at a northern German navy base in Wilhelmshaven, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius talked about the importance of keeping freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. “Looking the other way, showing no presence in the Indo-Pacific in support of the international rules-based order, that’s not an option for Germany,” Pistorius said before the German warship set sail for the Pacific Rim. “Presence matters,” said Pistorius, waving a red flag to Xi, knowing that Biden has provoked China for years over its activity in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait. Biden said in 2022 that he would commit U.S. troops to defend Taiwan in case of a Chinese invasion. Xi claims that the democratic Republic of China in Taiwan is part of Mainland China. Taiwan’s 67-year-old President Tsa Ing-wen vehemently rejects Xi’s claim of sovereignty over Taipei.
Getting involved in the conflict, Germany now aligns itself with Washington, further antagonizing Beijing but, more importantly, drives Beijing into a close economic, military and strategic alliance with the Kremlin. With Ukraine combing through the wreckage of North Korean missile parts in the battlefield, it’s clear that 40-year-old North Korean President Kim Jong-un has already joined the close military alliance with the Kremlin and Beijing. Biden makes no effort to end the Ukraine War and return to normal diplomacy with the Kremlin. When Biden boycotted the Beijing winter Olympics in 2022, the drove Beijing into a closer alliance with the Kremlin, a ready partner especially with the Ukraine War. Pistorius sent the supply ship Frankfurt am Main disembarked from Wilhelmshaven while the warship Baden-Wuerttenberg left the Spanish port of Rota.
Scholz’s decision to send ships into the South China Sea won’t improve relations with Beijing, putting the EU into the same category as a hostile power as the U.S. Scholz knows that U.S. relations with China, especially over Taiwan, are the at the lowest point since the 1949 Maoist Revolution, where Chinese Nationalists led by Gen. Chiang Kai-shek fled the Mainland for the Island of Formosa where the set up a democratic government with the help of the United States. Taiwan and the United States formed the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty in 1954 to prevent Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong from taking over Taiwan. Over the last 74 years the U.S. had done everything to maintain relations with Beijing and Taiwan with former President Jimmy Carter signing the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, ending the 1954 Mutual Defense Treaty and recognizing only Beijing.
Relations with the U.S. and EU have never been worse with Biden leading the way in confronting Beijing, only recently banning the popular Internet platform TikTok in the U.S. unless it’s sold by year’s end. Sending a supply and warship to the South China only inflames the situation during time of global tensions. Xi is especially irked by Biden’s attempt in the Indo-Pacific to create a NATO-like alliance with Japan, South Korea, Philippines and Australia to confront China’s repressive maneuvers in the Pacific-Rim. Pistorius didn’t say whether the German vessels would pass through the Taiwan Strait where U.S. warships continue to defy Beijing. “Since several allied navy vessels have passed [the Taiwan Stait], this obviously is an option. But no decision has been take yet,” Pistorius said, reluctant to push China too far in the wrong direction.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
