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Germany Should Rethink China Strategy, SPD Lawmaker Says

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul arrives for a ministerial meeting on implementation of a Middle East peace plan at the Quai d'Orsay, in Paris, France October 9, 2025. Thomas Samson/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul arrives for a ministerial meeting on implementation of a Middle East peace plan at the Quai d'Orsay, in Paris, France October 9, 2025. Thomas Samson/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
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Germany Should Rethink China Strategy, SPD Lawmaker Says

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul arrives for a ministerial meeting on implementation of a Middle East peace plan at the Quai d'Orsay, in Paris, France October 9, 2025. Thomas Samson/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul arrives for a ministerial meeting on implementation of a Middle East peace plan at the Quai d'Orsay, in Paris, France October 9, 2025. Thomas Samson/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

A senior lawmaker from Germany's Social Democrats, a junior partner in Chancellor Friedrich Merz's coalition government, called on Saturday for a change of China policy after Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul postponed a trip to Beijing.

Wadephul, a member of Merz's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), cancelled the trip on Friday after Beijing confirmed only one of his requested meetings, a move that pointed to rising tensions over trade and security matters.

"The short-term cancellation of the trip to China does not bode well for an improvement in tense German-Chinese relations," said Adis Ahmetovic, foreign policy spokesperson for the Social Democrats (SDP), according to Reuters.

"We need to rethink Germany's China strategy. More than ever, we need an active, strategic foreign policy that focuses on dialogue, clarity and long-term interests," he said.

Germany is Europe's biggest economy. China is Germany's biggest trading partner and the largest economy in Asia.

Wadephul told Reuters this week he planned to urge China to relax export restrictions on rare earths and semiconductors during his trip, which had been due to start on Sunday, and underlined fair trade as a cornerstone of successful relations.

In a strategy on China agreed in 2023, Berlin urged the "de-risking" of the two countries' economic relationship, calling Beijing a "partner, competitor and systemic rival".

China provides Germany with critical components such as rare earths and chips, two areas that have been subject to severe bottlenecks as global trade tensions intensify.

"Direct dialogue with China is particularly important in a phase of global tension," Ahmetovic said.

Talks should be deepened "especially on issues of peace, security, the economy, trade and human rights," he said.

Juergen Hardt, foreign policy spokesperson for the CDU, said China was trying to use trade policy as a means of exerting pressure and that Wadephul had been right to postpone the trip.

"The German government is not playing along with this game," he said, adding that Germany continued to value good and fair relations with Beijing.

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World

Israel’s Main Opposition Leader Says Ceasefire with Iran ‘Political Disaster’

People enter an underground parking garage as sirens warn of an incoming missile fired from Yemen in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP)
People enter an underground parking garage as sirens warn of an incoming missile fired from Yemen in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP)
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Israel’s Main Opposition Leader Says Ceasefire with Iran ‘Political Disaster’

People enter an underground parking garage as sirens warn of an incoming missile fired from Yemen in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP)
People enter an underground parking garage as sirens warn of an incoming missile fired from Yemen in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP)

Israel's main opposition leader Yair Lapid sharply criticized the ceasefire with Iran on Wednesday, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to achieve the war's objectives. 

"There has never been a political disaster like this in our entire history. Israel was not even close to the table when decisions were made concerning the core of our national security," Lapid wrote on X. 

"The army carried out everything that was asked of it, and the public showed remarkable resilience, but Netanyahu failed politically, failed strategically, and did not achieve any of the goals he himself set." 

Netanyahu had set the elimination or at least severe degradation of Iran's nuclear program as a central goal of the war, describing it as an "existential threat" to Israel. 

He also called for neutralizing Iran's ballistic missile capabilities, weakening or potentially toppling the Iranian regime, and curbing Tehran's regional influence by targeting its network of allied groups. 

"It will take us years to repair the political and strategic damage that Netanyahu caused due to arrogance, negligence, and lack of strategic planning," Lapid said. 

The United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire in an 11th-hour bid to avert all-out destruction of Iran threatened by US President Donald Trump. 

Israel said it supported Trump's decision to suspend his bombing of Iran, but maintained the ceasefire "does not include Lebanon". 

Israel has been battling Iran-backed Hezbollah since the Lebanese armed group launched rocket fire at Israel in March. 

World

Sarkozy Asserts his ‘Innocence’ Over Libya Funding

Former France's President Nicolas Sarkozy returns to the courtroom following a recess in his appeal trial over charges he sought Libyan financing for his 2007 election, at the Palais de Justice courthouse in Paris on April 7, 2026. (AFP)
Former France's President Nicolas Sarkozy returns to the courtroom following a recess in his appeal trial over charges he sought Libyan financing for his 2007 election, at the Palais de Justice courthouse in Paris on April 7, 2026. (AFP)
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Sarkozy Asserts his ‘Innocence’ Over Libya Funding

Former France's President Nicolas Sarkozy returns to the courtroom following a recess in his appeal trial over charges he sought Libyan financing for his 2007 election, at the Palais de Justice courthouse in Paris on April 7, 2026. (AFP)
Former France's President Nicolas Sarkozy returns to the courtroom following a recess in his appeal trial over charges he sought Libyan financing for his 2007 election, at the Palais de Justice courthouse in Paris on April 7, 2026. (AFP)

France's ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday told an appeal trial there was "not a single cent of Libyan money" in the campaign that saw him elected in 2007.

The 71-year-old, who has always denied any wrongdoing, last year became modern France's first former president to have gone to jail over the case.

"The truth is that there wasn't a single cent of Libyan money in my campaign," Sarkozy said.

A lower court in September found the right-wing politician, who was president from 2007 to 2012, guilty of seeking to acquire funding from Moammar Gaddafi's Libya for the campaign, but did not rule that he received or used it for the campaign.

The court sentenced him to five years behind bars, 20 days of which he served before he was released pending the appeal.

In the initial trial, prosecutors had argued Sarkozy's aides, acting in his name, struck a deal with Gaddafi, promising in return to help restore the Libyan leader's international image after Tripoli was blamed for two plane bombings.

The West laid the blame on Libya for the bombing of the Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 over Lockerbie in Scotland -- which killed 259 people -- and of the UTA Flight 772 over Niger the following year, which took the lives of 170 people.

Relatives of those killed in the 1989 bombing spoke of their ordeal at the appeal trial last week.

"You can only respond to such indescribable suffering with truth," Sarkozy said on the first of several days of taking the stand, with his wife, model and singer Carla Bruni, in the courtroom.

"But you cannot repair suffering with an injustice: I am innocent," he said.

The ex-leader denied his aides made any promises to Gaddafi's then military intelligence chief Abdallah Senussi, who had been linked to the bombings.

A French court had in 1999 sentenced Senussi to life in jail in absentia for the attack on UTA Flight 772, and he has been wanted for questioning over the Lockerbie bombing.

"The truth is that never, never did I promise or act in favor of Mr. Senussi," Sarkozy said, adding that he was a key player in launching military action against Gaddafi during the Arab Spring.

A French warplane was the first to enforce a UN resolution calling for a no-fly zone and protection of civilians in Libya.

The appeal trial is set to run until June 3, with a verdict expected in the fall. If convicted, Sarkozy faces up to 10 years in prison.

Sarkozy has faced a series of legal issues since leaving office and has already received two definitive convictions in other cases.

World

Taiwan Opposition Leader Says China Visit to Sow ‘Seeds of Peace’

This picture taken and released by Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA) on April 8, 2026, shows Kuomintang Chairperson Cheng Li-wen speaking to the press after a visit at the Sun Yat-Sen Mausoleum in Nanjing, in China's eastern Jiangsu province on April 8, 2026. (Central News Agency (CNA) / AFP)
This picture taken and released by Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA) on April 8, 2026, shows Kuomintang Chairperson Cheng Li-wen speaking to the press after a visit at the Sun Yat-Sen Mausoleum in Nanjing, in China's eastern Jiangsu province on April 8, 2026. (Central News Agency (CNA) / AFP)
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Taiwan Opposition Leader Says China Visit to Sow ‘Seeds of Peace’

This picture taken and released by Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA) on April 8, 2026, shows Kuomintang Chairperson Cheng Li-wen speaking to the press after a visit at the Sun Yat-Sen Mausoleum in Nanjing, in China's eastern Jiangsu province on April 8, 2026. (Central News Agency (CNA) / AFP)
This picture taken and released by Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA) on April 8, 2026, shows Kuomintang Chairperson Cheng Li-wen speaking to the press after a visit at the Sun Yat-Sen Mausoleum in Nanjing, in China's eastern Jiangsu province on April 8, 2026. (Central News Agency (CNA) / AFP)

Taiwan's opposition leader, a proponent of closer ties with Beijing, said on Wednesday she hoped to sow the "seeds of peace" during a rare visit to China.

Kuomintang (KMT) chairwoman Cheng Li-wun is the party's first leader to visit China in a decade but her trip -- during which she hopes to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping -- has sparked debate in Taiwan.

Critics, including those within her own party which traditionally supports relations with China, have accused her of being too pro-Beijing.

China claims self-ruled Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to seize it.

"I hope that today we plant the seeds of peace not only for Chinese people on both sides of the Strait, but for all humankind," Cheng said on Wednesday, in comments broadcast by Taiwanese media.

She spoke during a symbolic visit to the eastern city of Nanjing, where she visited the mausoleum of revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen, one of the few Chinese historical figures revered in both Beijing and Taipei.

Beefed-up security at the mausoleum prevented foreigners from entering, AFP journalists saw.

China severed high-level contact with Taiwan in 2016 after Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party won the presidency and rejected Beijing's claims to the island.

Cross-strait relations have worsened since then, with China ramping up military pressure with near daily deployments of fighter jets and warships near Taiwan and regular large-scale military drills.

However, Cheng said in a speech after her arrival on Tuesday evening that "the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are not doomed to war, as the international community has feared".

"Taiwan should not be reduced to a geopolitical pawn," she said in a Facebook post, in an apparent reference to tensions between China and the United States, Taiwan's main arms supplier.

Her visit, she added, would mark a "historic journey of peace".

In a park surrounding the mausoleum, 74-year-old Nanjing resident surnamed Fen told AFP on Wednesday that he had come to the area after hearing of Cheng's visit.

"I hope she will contribute to the reunification of the motherland," he said.