A senior Merkel ally says China is an 'ever more powerful snake' that Germany will take the fight to

A senior member of Angela Merkel’s government has warned China that a European Union fronted by Germany will go toe-to-toe with Beijing, stating “there will be no ‘business as usual’ as far as the EU is concerned.”

Germany took on the European Council’s rotating presidency last month and has warned Beijing that it will not be afraid to “lock horns” over issues like its treatment of Hong Kong and Uighurs in the Chinese province of Xinjiang.

Writing in Spiegel on Sunday, Michael Roth, the state secretary for Europe in Germany’s foreign affairs ministry, described China as an “ever more powerful snake” that must be met head-on by a more confident EU.

“We must not be afraid to lock horns when it comes to difficult issues such as human rights, security and technology. This, too, is about our own sovereignty at the end of the day,” Roth wrote.

The senior German minister said that while the EU and China are “interconnected” economies and must work together to be successful, China is a “systemic rival” to Europe that is “increasingly going on the offensive.”

“The leadership of the authoritarian, one-party state passes up no opportunity to drive a wedge between the EU member states and weaken them. We are locked in a tough competition of values stemming from very different concepts of society,” he said.

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