German envoy snubbed in China after FM Annalena Baerbock's ‘dictator’ remarks against Xi

China snubbed a German climate envoy this week in what is speculated to be a subtle retaliatory move over German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock's "dictator" remark against Chinese President Xi Jinping. Jennifer Morgan, the German special envoy for international climate action, recently embarked on a three-day visit to Beijing.

In the Chinese capital, Morgan was able to secure only one meeting with a government official, namely with Chinese climate envoy Xie Zhenhua. While she hoped to meet other top officials from the Chinese government, she was told that their schedules were filled and meetings could not be held, South China Morning Post reported. 

The comment that started it all 

The conspicuous cold shoulder comes days after Baerbock commented on the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. During a conversation with Fox News on September 14, the German foreign minister said that if Russian President Vladimir Putin achieved victory in the conflict, it would send the wrong message to leaders with similar ideologies and embolden them. 

“If Putin were to win this war, what sign would that be for other dictators in the world, like Xi, like the Chinese president?,” she said, triggering Chinese backlash. As a result, German ambassador Patricia Flor was summoned to the foreign ministry as spokeswoman Mao Ning slammed Baerbock's remarks as “extremely absurd, seriously infringing on China’s political dignity and an open political provocation”.

Morgan is said to be close to Baerbock after the latter offered her to give up her role as the head of global campaigning network Greenpeace to lead Berlin's climate affairs. This prompted Morgan, an American, to seek German citizenship last year. Taking to the WeChat platform, the climate envoy shared glimpses of her recent visit to Beijing, which came after she attended the UN General Assembly in New York. 

In a clip, she said that she had “three excellent days here in Beijing, in discussions with the Chinese and other international partners about how we are all working to have economic security, energy security, and climate security, and achieving that together”.