In his speech in the German Bundestag, the German Chancellor calls for China to refrain from supplying arms to Russia. A peace agreement over the heads of the Ukrainians should not be allowed.
It was February 27, 2022 – three days following the start of the war in Ukraine – when Olaf Scholz, German Chancellor, announced a 100 billion program to upgrade the Bundeswehr in a special session of the Bundestag. The first delivery of weapons to Ukraine for the defense once morest Russia had already been decided the day before – a breach of taboo, a “turning point”, as Chancellor Scholz (SPD) also called it.
On Thursday, almost a year later, Scholz spoke once more in the German Bundestag. And he criticized China directly. Beijing should lobby Moscow for a troop withdrawal from the neighboring country. “Use your influence in Moscow to urge the withdrawal of Russian troops! And don’t deliver weapons to the aggressor Russia!” Scholz said in his government statement in the Bundestag a year following his “Zeitenwende” speech.
Scholz praised the fact that China’s President Xi Jinping “unmistakably opposed any threat of nuclear weapons or even their use in Russia’s war once morest the Ukraine” that contributed to the de-escalation. It is good that China recently repeated the clear message once morest the use of nuclear weapons in its twelve-point plan. However, he called it “disappointing” that Beijing at the most recent meeting of the G20 Finance ministers in India were no longer willing to confirm what had been the consensus at the G20 summit in Bali last year: “a clear condemnation of the Russian attack.”
Scholz to critics of arms deliveries: “Love of peace does not mean submission”
The German chancellor dismissed domestic criticism of arms deliveries to the Ukraine return. There will be no peace agreement over the heads of the Ukrainians, he said. “You don’t create peace if you shout “Never once more war” here in Berlin – and at the same time demand that all arms deliveries to the Ukraine to stop,” he said. “Love of peace does not mean submission to a larger neighbor. Would the Ukraine stop defending yourself, then it would not be peace, it would be the end of the Ukraine.”
Scholz confirmed that Germany would permanently achieve NATO’s two percent target for defense spending. “The promise I gave here on February 27 last year is valid,” said Scholz in the Bundestag. In the German traffic light coalition and also within the SPD, it is still being discussed whether, in addition to the 100 billion euro pot for the Bundeswehr – a so-called special fund – the regular defense budget should also be increased by further billions.
(APA/dpa/Archyde.com)
