German Navy Chief asserts China more than a rival & acts as 'enemy' to many countries

China is not as "nice a country as we thought," and acts as an enemy to many nations, asserted German Navy Chief Vice Admiral Kay-Achim Schonbach on Friday. The top German Navy official made his assertions while explaining the outlook of the new Berlin government towards Beijing's aggressive approach in the Indo-Pacific and human rights violations against minority communities.

"I am not scared to say that China acts as an enemy to many countries but not to us. The first step is to accept is what China is doing even in Africa or elsewhere," German Navy Chief, Admiral Schonbach said, as quoted by ANI while speaking at a question session in New Delhi.

Talking about the former German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, he stated, "(She) was in favour of China but later realised how it (Beijing) had a hidden agenda." Admiral Schonbach also noted that Merkel wanted to "go for" the Huawei's 5G technology and said that "We have no problem of China is building New infrastructure in Germany, we have no problem in China building robotics or whatever--not realising what this means to other countries." 

China also "shrewdly" acquired a German robotics company, Kuka Robotics, said Admiral Schonbach, adding that the firm was a front runner in Europe but was sold to a private Chinese firm who has failed to deliver the payments yet. "The whole technology was gone and we see China is not paying back."

"China is not the nice country we thought of. China is more than a rival," the German Navy Chief stressed.

It is to mention that Admiral Schonbach is in India to discuss bilateral defence cooperation. On Friday, he met with Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari to talk over issues of mutual interest and avenues to enhance military ties, the Indian Air Force (IAF) informed through a Twitter post. On Thursday, the German Navy Chief met with his Indian counterpart Admiral R Hari Kumar to discuss maritime interoperability.

Germany slams nature of Chinese lending in Africa

When asked about the significance of the European Union's  (EU) Global Gateway strategy in comparison to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the German Navy Chief explained that Beijing under the initiative is burdening African countries with debt and putting money into projects where the potential return to the investment is almost negligible. "Who is working and the infrastructure - Chinese workers. Who is controlling those infrastructures - Chinese, who is installing the CCTV camera for controlling your societies- China," he said, slamming the nature of Chinese lending in African countries and recalling conversations with African heads of state. "China is giving money to dictators, killers and to criminals in exchange for their resources," the Admiral said, as quoted by ANI.

(Image: ANI/AP)