These turbulent times show us that, in an interconnected world, everything is linked; that climate policy cannot be discussed without geopolitics, as we saw at the Climate Change Conference in Baku. And that our security is closely tied to the security of other world regions. Dialogue and diplomacy – including with those who have different views from us – are therefore more important than ever. In order to protect our values and interests, we must advocate again and again for cooperation over confrontation – without being naive. One reason why COP29 in Baku ultimately produced a result was that Europe and China worked together for a new approach in climate finance.

As Europe’s biggest economy, we are just as resolute in upholding our interests as the Chinese leadership is. No matter whether in economic, climate or security policy, our maxim is: cooperation where possible, autonomy where necessary. We will not close our eyes to our economic competition being misused for systemic competition. After all, in a completely interconnected world, economic policy is also security policy. We will therefore not sit back if others break the international rules to the detriment of German and European industry – be it with subsidised overproduction or in the field of human rights, ignoring ILO core labour standards for competitive advantage. As Europeans, we support the European Commission, which has a strong mandate to find a solution with China for fair competition and a level playing field. I talked about this with the new High Representative, Kaja Kallas, just before my departure.

At the G7 meeting last week, we exchanged views with our partners from the Indo-Pacific. It became clear once again that all states that are committed to an international rules-based order share the same concern, because the war in Ukraine shows how indivisibly linked our security in Europe and in Asia is. If North Korea sends soldiers and weapons to be deployed against Ukraine while Russia supports Pyongyang’s nuclear programme, there is a danger to peace here in Europe and also in the Indo-Pacific. Rather than shouldering responsibility for peace and security in the world as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China is going against our European core interests by providing economic assistance and weapons support to Russia. Putin’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine is a very direct threat to our peace. I will also be talking in Beijing about how we cannot simply leave that aside in our relations with China.