US and German leaders vow to support Ukraine “as long as it takes”

Europe, News, US March 6, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met with U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington D.C. on March 3, 2023. The two leaders held private talks in the White House to reaffirm their solidarity with Ukraine for its ongoing war against Russia.

German Chancellor Scholz arrived on a brief one-day visit to the U.S. as he met with the U.S. President in a private bilateral meeting, without engaging in any other interaction. This was his second trip to the White House since taking the office in December 2021. Scholz was accompanied by his security adviser during the trip who also met with his American counterpart in Washington.

U.S. President Joe Biden thanked the German Chancellor for his “strong and steady leadership” and support for Ukraine. The two leaders emphasized that it was important, right now more than ever, to gather global solidarity for Ukraine and to demonstrate that western allies would unanimously support Kyiv in its fight against the Russian invasion.

Biden and Scholz also discussed how the two countries and the rest of the western allies would respond if China provides military aid and weapons to Russia. The U.S. officials and senior political leadership has been pushing a strong narrative against China and predicting that China would provide weapons and military aid to Ukraine, a claim that China has repeatedly denied.

The White House did not release any public statement regarding the meeting. However, according to some independent sources, the main agenda of the bilateral meeting focused on Washington seeking Berlin’s help to consult other western allies on the possibility of imposing sanctions on China.

China and Germany are close trading partners. Berlin has always been cautious in taking a hardline stance against Beijing, however, under the pressure from the U.S. and other western allies, the stance seems to be shifting.

A day before leaving for his short trip to the U.S., Scholz delivered a speech at the German parliament in which he called on China to use its “influence in Moscow to press for the withdrawal of Russian troops, and do not supply weapons to the aggressor Russia.” During his brief public remarks in Washington, Scholz said that the western allies would support Ukraine as long as it takes. He stressed that “This is a very, very important year because of the dangerous threat to peace that comes from Russia invading Ukraine.”

*^{U.S. President Joe Biden listens as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (Image Credit: AP)}*

Biden thanked Germany for providing “critical military support” to Ukraine in time of need. Germany has recently approved not only providing Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine from its arsenal but also allowing other European operators to send German-made tanks to Ukraine for its fight against Russia.

Although Germany and U.S. work closely on matters related to Ukraine, there has been persistent friction between the two allies especially when it came to providing tanks to Ukraine. German administration kept stalling under the pressure from its allies to provide Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, as it deemed it would worsen the situation in the region. Germany did not announce its military support for Ukraine until the U.S. announced that it would be providing M1 Abrams tanks to the country.