German Navy Commander Kay-Achim Schonbach (right) recently visited the Indian Air Force Marshal.Photo: Indian Air Force Media Center Twitter
According to a report by CNN today (24th), German naval commander Lieutenant Admiral Kay-Achim Schonbach was forced to resign due to criticism of his sensitive remarks. Schönbach said: “Germany should give Putin respect, Germany, India need Russia to deal with China.” This remark is obviously different from the current position of Western countries.
According to the report, on the 21st, Schoenbach attended the “Germany’s Indo-Pacific Strategy” seminar at the “Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense Research and Analysis” (Manohar Parrikar IDSA) in New Delhi, India, where he discussed the Indo-Pacific strategy. He expressed his views on the situation, European positions, Sino-Russian issues and Russia-Ukraine relations. Although he repeatedly emphasized that his speech was a “personal position”, it still caused a lot of controversy.
Schönbach said that the purpose of Russia’s aggression once morest Ukraine was to gain “respect, high-level respect”, and he also mentioned that following the Crimean Peninsula was occupied by Russia, Ukraine might not get it back.
Schoenbach also said that Europe should give Russia respect because the main enemy is China. “Giving Putin some respect has little or no cost. Russia is an important country. We, India, Germany need Russia because we need Russia to deal with China”.
Unlike other NATO countries, the German government has said it will not sell arms to Ukraine to avoid escalating regional conflicts.
Asked how Germany would compete with China, Schönbach said: “China is not a friendly country, and China is not just an adversary.”
Schönbach also mentioned former German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He said that Merkel had always been optimistic regarding China before, but only later found out that China has other plans behind it.
Schoenbach is also critical of China’s “One Belt, One Road” policy, arguing that the nature of Chinese loans to African countries is funding dictators, killers and criminals in exchange for their resources.
Schönbach’s remarks were reported by the Indian and German media and sparked a lot of controversy. A spokesman for the German Defense Ministry told Bild on Saturday that Schönbach’s remarks were completely inconsistent with the German Defense Ministry’s position.
Schoenbach also tweeted an emergency fire extinguisher, saying that those words were all personal opinions, “I shouldn’t have done that, this is very clear, this is obviously a mistake.”
Later, Schoenbach issued a statement saying that his remarks caused increasing pressure on the office and that his resignation was necessary in order to prevent further damage to the German Navy, the Bundeswehr, and especially the Federal Republic of Germany. “I asked the Minister of Defense, Christine Lambrecht, to remove me immediately, and the Minister accepted my request.”
German navy commander Lieutenant General Kay-Achim Schonbach was forced to resign due to criticism of his sensitive remarks. “Germany should give Putin respect, Germany, India need Russia to deal with China,” Schoenbach said.
The British “Brimstone” anti-armor missile is known as the “European Hellfire”. Britain last week provided Ukraine with these weapons to counter the threat of a Russian invasion.Photo: Retrieved from the MBDA website