Michael Roth (SPD) criticizes Markus Söder's (CSU) trip to China: "If it weren't so sad, you would have to laugh."

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Markus Söder (CSU) in Sichuan: "A panda would also fit in well with Bavaria, so peaceful"

Photo: Peter Kneffel / picture alliance / dpa

Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder spent a week traveling through China, showing off pandas, spicy meat dishes and on the Great Wall of China. However, his press tour to the Middle Kingdom caused displeasure in Berlin. The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael Roth (SPD), accuses Söder (CSU) of naivety in dealing with China's communist leadership and of damaging German and European foreign policy.

»Markus Söder is not the first state politician to try to pursue a secondary foreign policy. But rarely has anyone failed as badly as he did,” Roth told the Tagesspiegel on Sunday. He is damaging Bavaria and its CSU.

Roth: Söder ignores strategy and policy changes

The SPD foreign politician compared Söder in China with the former Bavarian King Ludwig II. In China, Söder had shown a "megalomania in the style of Ludwig II," said Roth. »The Bavarian regional politician boldly claims that there is a partnership of equals between the Free State and the communist regime of China. If it weren't so sad, you'd have to laugh."

Söder completely ignores the fact that the “overdue change in strategy and policy by Germany and the EU in dealing with China” was preceded by a dramatic change in strategy and policy in Beijing. China denies European, German and Bavarian companies exactly the framework conditions that the dictatorship demands for its own state-owned companies in their drive for global expansion.

Söder defended his trip to China in “Bild am Sonntag”. "Exchange achieves better long-term results than confrontation and instruction," he said. »Where others withdraw, we intensify international contacts. Isolation would be the wrong approach. Reliable communication is particularly needed in times of international crisis.

“We do realpolitik instead of moral politics: We represent Bavaria’s interests abroad and open doors for the economy,” Söder continued. The Prime Minister assured that he also addressed “difficult topics such as the war in Ukraine and the human rights situation.” “That’s only possible if you keep in touch.”

muk/AFP