It may well be that Denmark was too naive in the close relations with China, which were built with the strategic partnership from 2008. But it would be a mistake to use that lesson to turn its back on the nation now.
With that argument, Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen (M) is traveling to Shanghai on Tuesday to sign a new cooperation program with China.
- It is not in Denmark's interest to move from one trench to another. If 15 years ago we tended to be a little too open, the lesson should not be that we now become too closed, he says.
Lars Løkke Rasmussen has several purposes for the trip. He wants to sign a new green work program between China and Denmark. It is a narrower version of the previous partnership, and then he wants to "open doors" for Danish business. Løkke also plans to have a "hopefully honest talk" with the Chinese government about human rights and the war in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is listening to China, and therefore it is important that China uses its influence to stop the war, says Lars Løkke Rasmussen.
- So far, China has been sitting on the fence neutrally, which de facto is the same as supporting Putin. I am not conceited and imagine that my visit in isolation can move them. But it is part of a larger European attempt, he says.
Lars Løkke Rasmussen signs the agreement the same year that the Danish Police Intelligence Service (PET) has warned that China can spy on Denmark, for example through university environments and students. And in the same year that the conflict between China and Taiwan has reached new heights.
Parties critical of travel
It is also not because Løkke is met with words of praise for his trip by several of the parties in the Folketing, which TV 2 has spoken to. Both SF, the Danish Democrats and DF are skeptical of the trip and the agreement. SF's business spokesperson, Lisbeth Bech Poulsen, explains to Ritzau that Denmark is helping to give legitimacy to China with the visit.
- It is simply a blue light to believe that trade and cooperation can move authoritarian regimes in a more democratic direction.
- That was the mistake many made with Putin and Russia, and we can see that even though we have cooperation with the Chinese, it has only gone in the completely wrong direction, she says.
However, the problems with China do not make Lars Løkke Rasmussen doubt that Denmark should enter into new cooperation with the large Asian country. However, it should be closer cooperation than before.
In 2011, Denmark welcomed Vladimir Putin on a state visit to Denmark. This was based on the ideology that liberal free trade could spread democracy. Løkke now knows that this is not always the case.
- Therefore, it must now be based on a realistic analysis of who we are dealing with, and that is, among other things, why the work program has been cut more than we have had before.
On the trip, Lars Løkke Rasmussen will meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who will sign the agreement on behalf of China.
/ritzau/
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