German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock labeled Chinese President Xi Jinping a dictator on Friday as she stressed the German government’s support for Ukraine.
“We will support Ukraine as long as it takes,” Baerbock told Fox News on Friday, when asked how the government in Berlin saw the end of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine.
“If Putin were to win this war, what sign would that be for other dictators in the world, like Xi, like the Chinese president? Therefore, Ukraine has to win this war,” Baerbock said in the interview during her trip to the U.S.
Baerbock’s comments come on the heels of recent trade tensions between Beijing and Brussels, after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen this week said the EU executive would launch an investigation into Chinese electric vehicle subsidies.
Despite Germany’s ambivalent approach toward China, Baerbock’s own Green Party tends to lean toward a more assertive approach to Beijing.
U.S. President Joe Biden also called Xi a dictator this past summer when speaking about a Chinese spy balloon that the U.S. shot down earlier this year.
