Opinion | Why Germany’s leader called China’s over Ukraine – and why it matters

By inviting China into the equation on Ukraine, Merz is acknowledging that those who can shape outcomes – however flawed – must be engaged

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Published: 5:30am, 2 Jun 2025

In an era when diplomacy often postures as virtue signalling and foreign policy has grown allergic to nuance, Germany’s new Chancellor Friedrich Merz has executed a move of startling clarity and daring. He called President Xi Jinping, not to lecture him on human rights or wave the banner of Western liberalism but to propose a deal: help end the war in Ukraine.

Merz’s appeal, couched in the anodyne language of international cooperation, was anything but soft. He told Xi that Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine has a bearing on Germany’s national security and urged Beijing to throw its weight behind joint US-European efforts for a ceasefire.

According to the read-out, the call included appeals to common cause on climate, trade, and stability, while Xi lauded the partnership between the two nations and emphasised the need for “sound and stable” ties in a time of global flux. After all, Chinese-German trade volume alone accounted for around €246 billion (US$278 billion) last year.

This was not a routine call, but a statement of doctrine that signals a conscious pivot from values-based idealism to strategic realism. In short, it was a turn to realpolitik in its purest, Bismarckian sense.

The contrast with the previous German government could not be more striking. Under Olaf Scholz and his Green Party foreign minister Annalena Baerbock, Berlin embraced a high-minded but ultimately sterile approach to China. Baerbock called Xi a “dictator”, while human rights advocates pushed Scholz to link Beijing’s conduct in Xinjiang and Hong Kong to the future of Sino-German ties.

The message was that Germany would engage China, but only on Europe’s moral terms. Merz has rejected that framework. The tone has changed and the priorities have shifted. No lectures, no preconditions – just interests.