German finance minister provokes China’s animosity

China suspended the visit to Beijing German Federal Minister of Finance, Christian Lindner, in the short term, as announced by the spokesman of his office in Berlin. A diplomatic insult that could be related to his the position of president of the German Liberal Party (FDP), the junior partner of the tripartite that forms the German government. Lindner was due to visit the Chinese capital on Wednesday next week to meet his Chinese counterpart Liu Kun there, before attending the G7 finance ministers’ summit in Japan the following day. Beijing has argued that scheduling problems are holding up and postponing the meeting indefinitely.

The rudeness does not appear to affect German-Chinese relations, as Foreign Minister Qin Gang is expected in Berlin this Tuesday to meet his counterpart Annalena Baerbock. That’s why the refusal to accept Lindner seems even more suspicious, which is seen in Germany as a wake-up call to the liberal president. One of the reasons could be the visit to Taiwan at the end of March by the German Minister for Research and Science, also liberal Bettina Stark-Watzinger. It was the first time in 25 years that a member of the German government had visited the island, which Beijing considers part of its territory.. China’s foreign ministry called it a “monstrous act” and expressed its “strong displeasure” in an official complaint.

Several open fronts

However, it is not the first time that Lindner has incurred the wrath of the Asian giant’s authorities. During a visit to Hong Kong in 2019 as president of the FDP to open the office of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, close to his party, he held a meeting with Chinese opponents who did not like Beijing. The fact that he also openly criticized China last February, after the G20 finance ministers’ summit, over its stance on the war in Ukraine may also be another reason to irritate the Xi Jinping-led regime. “It’s an accident” that the People’s Republic “prevented” the creation of the final joint document, the German minister said at the end of that meeting.

The visit of the Chinese foreign minister to Berlin seems to confirm that the hostility of the Asian country is directed exclusively towards the FDP and its president. Qin will successively visit Germany, France and Norway this week at the invitation of his colleagues. China is trying to act as a mediator in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, but it is not excluded that his minister will also deal with the tricky issue of Taiwan. During a visit to Beijing last month, Minister Baerbock expressed concern about the danger of escalating tensions between China and the island, which Xi considers rebel territory.