Hold China responsible for helping Russia, Danish PM says

NEW YORK — Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen blasted China for supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine and accused Beijing of not playing by international trade rules.

In an interview with POLITICO on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Frederiksen name-checked China as part of a group of four countries including Russia, North Korea and Iran, whose close cooperation “has huge global consequences.”

“I don’t think it would be possible for Russia to have a full-scale war for more than two-and-a-half years now without help from China,” she said. “We cannot continue a situation where China helps Russia in a war … in Europe, without consequences. They have to be held responsible for their activities.”

She added that the consequences for Beijing must be political. “You cannot on the one hand let Russia attack another European country and continue like nothing has happened,” she said.

“We have tried with all actors on the global season to have good cooperation — we tried it with Russia, buying their gas and their oil, building up diplomatic, normal political relationships. It did not work; they attacked a European country.

“I think we have tried to do the same with China — to have normal cooperation between partners on different aspects and topics. We cannot allow ourselves to be naïve … You cannot go back to the situation before the war in Ukraine and the same goes for China now,” Frederiksen said.

Ukraine’s Western allies have been increasingly vocal about their belief that Beijing is helping Russia — not just through shipping dual-use tech to the country, but also via direct military support for President Vladimir Putin’s regime.

Frederiksen called for a rethink when it comes to EU trade with China, stating that Europe had become overly dependent on the country.

“I think we need to be less dependent on China,” she said. “Dependency is always a mistake when you find out that you don’t always share the same values and interests … I think Europe always tries to play by the rules but when you find out that someone else is not doing it, then you have to be able to react.”

Frederiksen added that this view was shared by the European Commission under President Ursula von der Leyen. “That’s also the words we hear from the Commission,” she said.

Europe has been facing pressure from the United States to take a more robust stance toward Beijing, as President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to bolster its own domestic industries and counter what it sees as increasing Chinese dominance in the Indo-Pacific region.

Frederiksen was speaking as Denmark prepares to take up a non-permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council in January. The position will put the country of 6 million people at the heart of the international diplomatic system at a time when the U.N. is struggling to respond to multiple crises like the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

This week, world leaders proposed a radical reform of the Security Council, the 15-member body that sits at the heart of the U.N. system, which has become increasingly paralyzed when it comes to meaningful decision-making as China and Russia wield their vetoes. 

Beijing’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi is due to deliver China’s national address to the U.N. General Assembly on Saturday.

Zelenskyy takes center-stage

Frederiksen was speaking ahead of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s address to the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday.

The Ukrainian president will then travel to Washington for meetings at the White House and on Capitol Hill, where he is expected to reveal more details of his so-called victory plan.

Frederiksen says she’s keen to hear more about Zelenskyy’s plan, noting that “none of us in Europe have asked for war.”

And she cautioned Western allies to be clear-minded about Russia’s intentions, particularly given talk about Ukraine being forced to give up its territory to achieve a peace deal with Moscow.

“Do you really believe that Russia would just say, ‘OK, thank you,’ and then do nothing else? I don’t. We need to push Russia one day to negotiate on peace, but it has to be driven by a wish for Russia to actually have peace,” she said.

Frederiksen, who has been Denmark’s prime minister since 2019, also backed calls for Ukraine to be allowed to use long-range missiles to strike targets deep inside Russia — a key Zelenskyy request at his meeting with Biden this week.

“I don’t think Ukraine will be able to win this war unless we give them something more powerful, which means lifting restrictions and giving them the long-range missiles,” she said. “It has to be according to international law of course, everything has to be that but that is a shift that is needed.”

Denmark has been one of Kyiv’s strongest supporters within the European Union and NATO, sending F16 fighter jets to Ukraine, investing in its defense industry and signing a memorandum of understanding earlier this year.