Merkel Calls for ‘Joint Strategy’ in Response to China and Russia

The trans-Atlantic partnership has two major tasks ahead of it, and we need a joint strategy to tackle that, and one of them is our relationship with Russia. When it comes to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, we have not really made any progress in recent years. The Minsk process is a diplomatic instrument that can be used, but it has not been successful. Russia has repeatedly caused hybrid conflicts that your states have been involved in. So we need a Russian agenda on Russia, a joint agenda. We must offer cooperation on the one hand. But on the other hand, we must be clear about the differences we have. And I can only agree with the U.S. president about the question of a strong European Union. The second thing, and that is more complex, we need a joint agenda with regard to China. China, on the one hand, is a competitor. But on the other hand, we need China to settle global problems such as climate change, biodiversity and others. In recent years, China has gained more power on the international stage. And we as a trans-Atlantic alliance and as Democratic countries need to react to that.