A former German spy chief has sounded the alarm about the imminent threat of world domination posed by China. Gerhard Schindler, the former head of the Federal Intelligence Service between 2011 and 2016, has issued a stern warning to the European countries for their growing “strategic dependence” on Beijing.
In an interview with The Times, Schindler outlined China’s approach to international relations and cautioned Europe for its over-reliance on Beijing for exports. He added that China is very cunningly and discreetly pursuing its remarkably coherent strategy of establishing its hegemony even as European nations fail to discern its increasingly dominant and belligerent behaviour.
“For a long time now, we have viewed China only from a business perspective. We need to reconsider and modify that relationship. We are partly dependent on China, for instance with our car industry,” the erstwhile German spy chief said while adding that conscious efforts need to be undertaken to reduce Germany’s dependency on China.
To drive home his point about China’s intentions to dominate the world, Schindler cited the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, claiming the company’s technological advancement was so superior that Germany could not ascertain if there existed “back doors” in its 5G network.
“If Huawei were to build our 5G network, we will be having no idea what they are building. Things could come to a head if our decisions on significant matters are influenced by China’s threat of arbitrarily turning off our communications,” Schindler worriedly noted. He has also asked the German government to follow the footsteps of the UK, the US and other nations in banning Huawei from developing and building the country’s 5G network.
China is viewing Europe as a battlefield where the next world war will be fought: Foundation for the Defense of Democracies Report
The warning from the former German spy chief comes amidst the caution raised by several global experts about China’s nefarious plot of world domination. A report from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies detailing China’s strategy towards Europe, including Germany, further heightens the suspicions regarding Beijing’s geopolitical objectives.
According to Emily de la Bruyere, a senior fellow at the foundation and co-author of the report, Beijing looks at Europe as a “battlefield where the third world war will take place”. She further added that China views Germany as a linchpin of the world war three battle. “If China is able to win over Germany, it can win the world,” Bruyere said in an interview to Fox News.
Amidst the raging global backlash against China for its lack of transparency and inept handling of coronavirus, Germany has been surprisingly silent on criticising of Beijing for failing to be proactive in curbing the virus and alerting the rest of the country about the dangers posed by it. German’s reticence in pulling up China is attributed to the close trade ties shared between the two countries. As of 2019, China is Germany’s biggest trading partner with €1.328 billion in exports and €1.105 billion in imports.
China’s growing assertiveness in the wake of coronavirus criticism
While some have dismissed the misgivings about the possibility of a third world war, many are convinced that if there indeed happens a third world war, China would be right in the middle of it. In the aftermath of the coronavirus crisis that has swept most of the world, China has displayed remarkable stridency in running down countries who have criticised it for its bungled handling of the pandemic and its diplomats have unabashedly indulged in “Wolf-Warrior Diplomacy”, threatening and intimidating the critics.
As China’s economic power has risen, so has its belligerence in asserting the numerous overlapping territorial claims it has with at least 14 of its neighbours. In the last few months, China had sunk a Vietnamese fishing boat in the disputed South China Sea, persistently harassed a Malaysian offshore oil rig, threatened Taiwan with an attack, tightened its grips on Hong Kong by passing a controversial national security law and flexed muscles with India along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh.