Political Scientist: China Is Interested In Good Relations With The West Much More Than With Russia

• 3.05.2024, 12:22

Beijing has long-term plans.

China's espionage activity is a new reality for Germany. Although in general, the world is now returning to the times of the Cold War, when such things were more the rule than the exception. Until recently, China, like Russia, was considered a partner, if not an ally of the Federal Republic of Germany. Perhaps Germany even turned a blind eye to economic or industrial espionage, in any case, did not pursue it strongly enough. But everything has changed over the past two years. Andreas Umland, a German analyst at the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies (SCEEUS), said this on the FREEDOM TV channel.

He commented on the publication of the Financial Times that China, following Russia, began to actively engage in political espionage in Germany. Umland noted that Russia has much more opportunities for espionage in Germany, given the ties left over from Soviet times in the eastern part of the country. At the same time, China has a powerful lobby in Germany.

"I think we have a problem in the relationship between Germany and China in that there is still a big lobby of enterprises that have invested a lot, have large markets in China and advocate the continuation of the old course or even the intensification of these relations. But I do not think that this is the result of some kind of agent activity of China. China, of course, has many representatives in Germany and invests, but for there to be any direct influence on decision-making, there is no such thing. Here, rather, the problem is that there are different interests: there is a commercial interest, a good attitude towards China, and, on the other hand, there is a national security interest. And, probably, Germany has not yet gone very far in this process," the analyst commented.

He added that it is difficult for German society to be aware of all the risks, since for a long time the country was in an “artificial world”, believing that it was surrounded by friends.

“Many do not perceive the outside world as hostile to Germany. They are looking for cooperation and believe that some hostile actions are rather the result of misunderstandings between the countries. In this respect, Germany is more problematic than other countries. But, on the other hand, we have already seen that Germany is changing," said an analyst of the Stockholm Center for Eastern European Studies.

According to the political scientist, spy scandals are destructive to China's reputation in the West, they can have economic consequences. Beijing has a lot to lose. Its foreign policy is still different from Russia's, it is more designed to create good conditions for economic growth, rather than direct aggression against other countries.

"I would make a distinction between Russia and China, because Chinese expansionism is more economic than geographical, as from Russia. Russia is a country that is already on the downward trajectory. And China is still a growing country. It is now facing economic problems. There is a suspicion that external political aggressiveness is just a reaction of China to internal economic problems. Nevertheless, China is in a different state, it has more to lose in this game. And whether there will be the same confrontation with China as with Russia now, I cannot yet say. Of course, Chinese assistance is significant for Russia, but so far it does not concern direct military assistance. I suspect it will stay that way. China will remain a dual international factor, which will probably be more interested than Russia in good relations with Europe and America. It’s also aggressive in it’s own way. But this is not the type of aggression that Russia has now. There is, of course, pathology. And China, I think, has more long-term plan,” said Andreas Umland.