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Updated April 12th, 2023 at 08:19 IST

German lawmaker warns Macron 'isolating himself, weakening EU' with China visit remarks

Röttgen said, “Macron is isolating himself in Europe, he is weakening the European Union, and he is indeed counteracting what EU president said."

Reported by: Zaini Majeed
Macron
IMAGE: AP | Image:self
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A German lawmaker on Tuesday slammed French President Emmanuel Macron for suggesting that Europe must refrain from involving in China’s conflict with Taiwan and step away from pledging allegiance with the United States. While Macron's statement triggered condemnation from both sides of the Atlantic, Norbert Röttgen, a foreign affairs specialist in Germany’s opposition Christian Democrats (CDU), on April 11 warned that the French President was "isolating himself." He was speaking with the Deutschlandfunk radio station in an interview.

Making reference to the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, Röttgen said, “Macron is isolating himself in Europe, he is weakening the European Union, and he is indeed counteracting what the president of the European Commission said in Beijing."

European sovereignty 'bears no relation to reality': German lawmaker

During their three-day visit to Beijing, Macron and Von der Leyen affirmed to China's authoritarian leader Xi Jinping's insistence that Taiwan, the breakaway self-ruled democracy, is a part of PRC's territory and is inalienable under the 'One China' policy. even as Taiwan sought independence in 1949, the island had been under the direct control of China, and the latter has been threatening to take it using force and coercion.

Tensions have soared to an all-time high in the Taiwan Strait following Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-Wen's visit to the US and her meeting with the US lawmaker in California, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Macron, after his Beijing visit told the French newspaper Les Echos: “The worst thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and take our cue from the US agenda and a Chinese overreaction.”

The French leader warned the EU against becoming a vassal between the United States and China in geopolitical feuds that could curb the advancement of the bloc. “I think the talk of European sovereignty bears no relation to reality," Norbert Röttgen, a foreign affairs specialist in Germany’s opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) was reported as saying. In context to Europe distancing itself from the confrontation of the US with China, Röttgen noted that the US would probably “very much agree” if the Europeans were more capable of guaranteeing European security themselves as war rages on the bloc's eastern flank. 

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Published April 12th, 2023 at 08:19 IST

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