German vice chancellor warns China of consequences of Russia stance

German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck has again warned the Chinese government of the economic consequences of its support for Russia in the war against Ukraine.

German and European security interests are directly affected by Russia's war against Ukraine, Habeck, who also serves as Germany's economy minister, said on Saturday in Beijing at a meeting with Chinese government representatives on climate issues.

Habeck was echoing similar comments he made on Friday.

The Chinese side was led by Habeck's counterpart, Zheng Shanjie, the chairman of the powerful National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). The authority is tasked with steering the development of the Chinese economy.

"We would proceed differently and certainly not quite as hard when analysing where we have dependencies on raw materials and technical goods if this war or China's support for Russia in this war did not exist," Habeck emphasized.

Things could not be separated, he added. "Our relationship, our direct relationship, has already been negatively affected."

In the trade dispute over tariffs on cheap Chinese electric cars, Habeck called on the Chinese side to take the European Commission's findings seriously.

The Brussels authority accuses the Chinese government of unfair subsidies and has threatened to impose high tariffs. China retaliated by announcing an anti-dumping investigation into imported products from the European Union, involving pork and by-products.

However, it was only on Thursday that China accused the European Commission of asking far too detailed and far-reaching questions in the subsidy investigation.

Habeck warned against trade barriers and the sealing off of markets, but also against unfair competition with state favouritism towards companies. Neither Germany nor China could have any interest in this, he said.