Hamartia Antidote
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...des-with-us-in-great-power-rivalry-with-china
MUNICH — Germany is firmly on the side of Washington in the resurgent rivalry between the United States and China, Berlin’s top defense official declared Friday, adding that Americans saw the return of "great power competition" before Europeans did.
“We are not neutral,” German defense minister Ursula von der Leyen told the Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering that this year will see more than 35 heads of state and government and 80 defense and foreign ministers in attendance. “We side with freedom, we side with human dignity, we side with democracy and the rule of law.”
Western officials regard Russia and China with growing alarm, and the U.S. in particular has kept a wary eye on Chinese bids for soft power in Europe and around the world. Russia draws much of the international attention as a threat to Europe, especially since the 2014 invasion of Ukraine, but von der Leyen suggested that NATO members also need to confront China’s nonmilitary incursions into the continent.
“NATO is more than just a military alliance,” she said through a translator. “It is a political alliance. And as a political alliance, we are faced with what is a prominent feature of the new security feature, the return of great power competition. Our American friends recognized that early on and we too understand this now.”
Her comments reinforced Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s warning, carried throughout central Europe the past several days, that China seeks “to erode freedom” in the region. “Russia and China are authoritarian powers who do not share our joint aspirations of freedom,” he said while visiting Budapest. Pompeo linked that general charge to a specific worry about Europe's increasing use of technology and equipment from Chinese telecommunications giants, companies regarded by U.S. officials as avatars of Beijing’s spy services.
