Gen. Harald Kujat (ret.), the well-respected former chairman of the NATO Military Committee (2002-05) and former chief of staff of the Bundeswehr (2000-05), stated his disappointment, in a May 2 interview with the Preußische Allgemeine Zeitung, that Chancellor Olaf Scholz, during his April 16-18 trip to China, didn’t support the latter’s Feb. 24, 2023 Ukraine peace plan. He said: “We had hoped that the Chancellor would take up the Chinese initiative from a year ago and support Beijing in this initiative.” He explained:
“In the European Union and in NATO, the Chancellor should take the initiative and strive for a sensible balance of interests between the warring parties, which ultimately also serves our interests and those of all Europeans. Time is running out. A catastrophic military defeat for Ukraine can only be prevented if hostilities cease as soon as possible and peace negotiations take place between the two belligerent states. Anyone who wants to save Ukraine must take this path resolutely and unswervingly.
“Because, if you look at the situation impartially, you will quickly realize that there is only one way for the survival of Ukraine and for a future for the Ukrainian people—and that is to end this war as quickly as possible through a political solution. However, anyone who wants to continue on the current path must know that they are burdening themselves with an unacceptably large amount of guilt. And he should be ready to tell the Ukrainian people what further loss of life and what level of destruction of the country he will impose on them in order to achieve political goals that are not achievable.”
