Biden receives the German chancellor (AP)
On Friday, US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz sent a message of unity from the White House to Russia, but also indirectly to China.
This is the chancellor’s second visit to Washington after a first on February 7, 2022, when Russia was “massaging forces” on the Ukrainian border, Biden said from the Oval Office, as the two leaders made brief remarks to the press.
Then the Westerners promised to “respond” and “we kept our promise,” as the US President added, thanking Schultz, who was sitting next to him. “You have strengthened” support for Kiev, after Germany agreed, after long hesitation, to deliver tanks to Ukraine.
For his part, Schulz considered it “very important” to send a “message” regarding Ukraine, which is “that we will continue (supporting) it as long as necessary.”
punish Russia
In parallel, the White House said that meeting with Biden Schultz reaffirmed the strength of the bilateral relationship between Washington and Berlin.
He added that Biden and Schultz renewed their commitment that Russia pay the price for its aggression against Ukraine, pointing to the importance of maintaining global solidarity with the Ukrainian people.
This visit angers the Kremlin, which warned before the meeting that sending new Western arms shipments to Ukraine would only lead to “prolonging” the conflict.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday, “We note that the United States continues its policy aimed at increasing arms shipments to Ukraine.”
400 million dollars
On Friday, the White House announced new military aid to Ukraine worth $400 million, consisting mainly of ammunition.
The visit program does not include a joint press conference, which raised questions in the German press, especially in light of the uncertainty about the delivery of German-made tanks to Ukraine.
Thus, the two leaders tried to dispel this impression and Schulz admitted that the bilateral relations are “very good”.
Leopard 1 (Archyde.com – archive)
Since his arrival in the White House, the US president has publicly pressured Berlin to abandon the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project that would have linked it to Moscow.
The issue of delivering tanks to Ukraine has also been a source of tension.
On January 26, Germany finally agreed to send a number of its Leopard tanks to Ukraine, which gave a new dimension to the military support that this country receives in the face of the Russian invasion.
The United States also promised to send armored vehicles, which in recent days has sparked different interpretations.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday, in a rare acknowledgment of the tension between the two countries, that Germany had stressed that it would not send Leopard tanks “unless the president also agreed to send Abrams tanks.”
Sullivan told ABC that Biden “decided not to send[the armored vehicles]because his military told him they wouldn’t be useful on the battlefield.”
But in the face of Germany’s insistence, the US president changed his position and acted “for the unity of the (NATO) alliance and to ensure that Ukraine gets what it wants.”
However, the German government gave a different interpretation, stressing that the talks sought to develop a “common approach” without Berlin putting pressure on Washington.
message to Beijing
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby confirmed Thursday that “challenges posed by China” will also be on the agenda of the discussions, at a time when Washington accuses Beijing of studying arms transfers to Moscow.
The White House noted with satisfaction the German Chancellor’s warning to Beijing publicly against providing military support to Russia.
“Our views are identical to Germany’s,” a senior White House official told reporters Thursday. Robin Quenneville of the Wilson Center for Research in Washington added that China is a “contentious” point.
She also made it clear that “German economic officials (and many politicians) are critical of what they believe are US attempts” to weaken their allies’ bilateral relations with China.
“A year ago, Schulz’s bold stance on German defense policy won praise from Washington. This year, Washington will pressure Schulz to continue to choose boldness over caution,” she added.