April 13, 2024 (EIRNS)—Chancellor Olaf Scholz departs from Berlin today for a visit to China over April 13-16. Although the Ukraine war will be on top of his agenda, his trip begins in Chongqing on April 14 and continues on April 15 in Shanghai, with a focus on German industrial projects, such as a large Bosch facility for hydrogen drives in Chongqing, as well as projects of Mercedes and Siemens, whose CEOs are among his delegation. The visit will conclude with talks in Beijing.
As for Ukraine, Scholz is supporting an integration of the Chinese peace efforts in the context of the June international meeting in Switzerland, which is based on the so-called “Zelenskyy peace formula” and is not inviting Russia—and which has been dismissed as a non-starter by the Russians. China, for its part, has so far insisted that the Swiss meeting will not be productive without Russian participation.
On April 11, the day before his trip, Scholz pointed out hopefully that Beijing had taken part in one of the preparatory meetings at the advisor level. Germany has always supported the process that led to the conference, the Chancellor emphasized after a meeting with Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze in Berlin on Friday. Now it is a matter of organizing this summit in such a way that “a large participation” from all over the world—for example from Arab countries, China, South Africa or Brazil—would be possible.
