TOKYO: Germany’s foreign minister hit out Monday at what he called China’s repeated threats to “unilaterally change” borders in the Asia-Pacific region, calling Beijing “increasingly aggressive.”
“China repeatedly threatens, more or less openly, to unilaterally change the status quo and shift borders in its favor,” Johann Wadephul said in Japan, citing China’s behavior in the Taiwan Strait and the East and South China Seas.
“Any escalation in this sensitive hub of international trade would have serious consequences for global security and the world economy,” Wadephul said after talks with Japanese counterpart Takeshi Iwaya.
A statement issued on Sunday before Wadephul’s visit to Japan — and later Indonesia — said that China was “increasingly asserting its regional supremacy and, in doing so, is also questioning principles of international law.”
“China’s increasingly aggressive behavior in the Taiwan Strait and the East and South China Seas also has implications for us in Europe: fundamental principles of our global coexistence are at stake here,” the statement quoted Wadephul as saying.
In the joint press statement in Tokyo, Wadephul also criticized “China’s support for the Russian war machine” in Ukraine.
“Without it, the war of aggression against Ukraine would not be possible. China is Russia’s largest supplier of dual-use goods and Russia’s best oil and gas customer,” Wadephul said.
He also said ahead of talks later Monday between US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders that security guarantees for Kyiv were “crucial.”
Trump’s summit on Friday with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska “made it clear that for a just and lasting peace, Moscow must finally act. Until that happens, pressure on Russia must be increased, including with increased aid to Ukraine,” Wadephul said.
The talks on Monday in Washington are about establishing “the elements of a negotiated solution on the path to a just peace for Ukraine,” he said.
“Firm security guarantees are crucial for this. Because Ukraine must be able to defend itself effectively even after a ceasefire and peace agreement.”
German minister says China ‘increasingly aggressive’
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German minister says China ‘increasingly aggressive’
- A statement issued on Sunday before FM Wadephul’s visit to Japan said that China was “increasingly asserting its regional supremacy and, in doing so, is also questioning principles of international law”
Russia sentences Briton who fought for Ukraine to 13 years in prison camp
- The jailed Briton was named as 30-year-old Hayden Davies by Russia’s Prosecutor General
- State prosecutors released a video of Davies being questioned as he stood behind bars
MOSCOW: A British man who fought for Ukraine against the Russian army has been sentenced to 13 years in a maximum security prison camp after being convicted of being a paid mercenary, Russian prosecutors said on Thursday.
The jailed Briton was named as 30-year-old Hayden Davies by Russia’s Prosecutor General which said he had been tried by a court in a part of Russian-controlled Donetsk, one of four Ukrainian regions which Moscow claimed as its own in 2022 in a move Kyiv and the West rejected an illegal land grab.
State prosecutors released a video of Davies being questioned as he stood behind bars, dressed in a black coat and with a shaven head. He says in the video that he had traveled to Ukraine to join the International Legion which paid him $400-500 per month.
The International Legion for the Defense of Ukraine is a unit of the Ukrainian military made up of foreign volunteers.
Asked if he pleaded guilty to the charge against him, Davies says “yeah” and nods his head.
It was not clear whether Davies was speaking under duress and there was no immediate comment from the British Foreign Office.
London in February said Davies was not a mercenary but a Prisoner of War entitled to protection under the Geneva Conventions. It also condemned what it called Moscow’s exploitation of prisoners of war “for political and propaganda purposes.”
Russian prosecutors said on Thursday that Davies had arrived in western Ukraine in August 2024, signed a contract to fight for the International Legion, undergone military training, and then fought against the Russian army in Donetsk.
Davies had been captured by Russia in winter 2024 carrying a US-made assault rifle and ammunition, they said.
British media have reported that Davies once served in the British army and is married and originally from Southampton.
A Russian court jailed another British man, James Scott Rhys Anderson, for 19 years in March after finding him guilty of fighting for Ukraine in the Kursk region of western Russia.
