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A fading Europe struggles to be heard in new world order
On matters of economics as well as war and peace, the EU’s attributes no longer serve it well in the hardball politics of today.
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European European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on Oct 22.
PHOTO: AFP
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Germany is the European Union’s biggest economy and China’s most important EU trading partner. So, when a senior German politician visits China, he can expect the red-carpet treatment.
No longer. When Mr Johann Wadephul, Germany’s foreign minister, recently tried to arrange a visit to China, he was told that, apart from a single encounter with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, nobody of importance in Beijing was available to meet him. “The trip cannot take place at this time,” a German Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Oct 24, shelving the visit
