Merkel, Xi pushed into awkward embrace before G20
BERLIN: When President Xi Jinping took the stage in Davos in January and painted China as a champion of free markets ready to fill the global leadership role vacated by the United States, German officials couldn’t help but chuckle.
Their expectation was that Donald Trump, due to be inaugurated as US president days later, would quickly temper his protectionist campaign rhetoric and patch up ties with Western allies, leaving little space for Beijing.
Six months later, as Mr Xi arrives in Berlin for a highly symbolic visit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel before a Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, what seemed laughable in the thin mountain air of the Swiss Alps is not so absurd any more.
In spite of concerns about human rights in China, frustrations over market access and worries about a wave of corporate takeovers in Europe by state-run Chinese firms, Germany is being pushed into an awkward embrace with Beijing as Mr Trump doubles down on his promise to put “America First”.
For Ms Merkel, the G20 host, Mr Xi is an ally and Mr Trump a troublesome rival on some of the most important issues on the agenda in Hamburg — from trade and climate change to economic development in Africa.
And so, Ms Merkel dined with Mr Xi on Tuesday and plotted G20 strategy with him over lunch yesterday.
After that, the two leaders were set to indulge in classic “panda diplomacy”, opening a US$10-million (340 million baht) Chinese compound in Berlin Zoo for Meng Meng and Jiao Qing — two giant pandas that China is lending to Germany as a token of friendship.