The German Chancellor, Olaf Schölzasked Thursday to China that refrain from sending weapons to Russia and instead use his influence to pressure Moscow to withdraw its troops from the Ukraine.
“My message to Beijing is clear: use your influence in Moscow to push for the withdrawal of Russian troops and do not supply weapons to the Russian aggressor,” Scholz said in a speech before the Bundestag, the German parliament.
The US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, declared last week to the chain CBS that China was “considering providing lethal support” to Moscow ranging “from ammunition to the weapons themselves.” This Thursday it transpired that USA is sounding out its close allies about the possibility of imposing new sanctions on Beijing in case this happens.
The chancellor also promised that Germany would continue to support Ukraine with humanitarian aid and military to help the country defend itself from the Russian invasion.
Addressing those who demand that Ukraine start negotiating a truce with Russia to end the war, he said that “Love of peace does not mean submission to a larger neighbor. If Ukraine stopped defending itself, it would not be peace, but the end of Ukraine.”
“Our European peace order is defensibleScholz added. “Our ‘never again’ means that aggressive warfare will never return as a means of doing politics. Our ‘never again’ means that Putin’s imperialism will not prevail”.
“You don’t negotiate with a gun to your temple, except submission itself,” he said.
Scholz also warned that the Russian president, Vladimir Putinis not open for peace negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
“Is Putin ready to negotiate a peace? Nothing suggests that at this time,” he said.
In addition, the German chancellor stated that his country and other allies are in talks with Ukraine about the future guarantees with a view to sustainable peace.
“We are talking with kyiv and with other partners about the future guarantees for Ukraine. These types of guarantees carry the presumption that Ukraine will successfully defend itself in this war,” Scholz added to the parliamentarians.
Scholz also said that Germany is working to meet the 2% defense spending target from NATO.
“This commitment, which I made here on February 27 last year, stands,” Scholz said, adding that the government would increase the defense budget as a whole to achieve this goal.
Scholz’s speech on the “inflection point”which came three days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, triggered arms shipments to Ukraine and a major increase in German military spending.
Germany has become one of the main arms suppliers to Ukraine since that speech. Lawmakers, including the main opposition bloc, strongly backed the 100 billion-euro ($106 billion) military procurement fund announced by the chancellor in June.
(With information from AP and AFP)
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Source-www.infobae.com