Conflict between China and USA
Foreign politician Roth sees the balloon dispute as a foretaste
2/6/2023 2:36 am
The shooting down of a suspected Chinese spy balloon by the USA should not put a strain on relations between the two countries in the long term, predicts CDU foreign policy expert Röttgen. The chairman of the foreign affairs committee, Roth, sees things differently. The affair is only a harbinger of what can still be expected in the conflict between the two great powers.
The SPD foreign policy expert Michael Roth sees the dispute over a suspected Chinese spy balloon over US territory as a harbinger of increasing tensions between the two great powers. “The balloon and the heated debate about it in the United States are a foretaste of the escalating conflict between China and the United States in the coming years,” said the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Bundestag to the editorial network Germany. SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich said on the ARD program “Report from Berlin” about the incidents: “We are very concerned about this – including me personally, because I think we have to be careful that another major international conflict does not arise here.”
The US military shot down a Chinese observation balloon that had been flying over the United States for days on Saturday. The US accused China of spying on the balloon. Beijing protested against the “overreaction” and rejected the allegations. Roth said the US launch of the balloon was correct. However, US President Joe Biden was under massive pressure from the Republicans, who wanted to discredit him as weak in foreign policy. At the same time, China’s President Xi Jinping has been pursuing an expansive foreign policy for years, the SPD politician explained. “That makes managing relationships more and more difficult.”
The CDU foreign politician Norbert Röttgen expressed the expectation that the balloon dispute would only briefly affect the relationship between China and the USA. “In my view, it is a Chinese glitch that nevertheless required an American response,” Röttgen told RND. “However, I assume that this will not allow either side to be diverted from their planned course any longer than necessary. And this consists of not being completely speechless in the pronounced power struggle between the two sides.”