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When two people fight, there is little joy in the third. The two: the great powers the United States and China; the third: Switzerland. It threatens to be drawn into the struggle between the United States and China for influence and power.
Because the US also expects allegiance to the alliance from countries that don’t see themselves as allies. For its part, China hopes for non-interference, but, like the United States, it is happy to interfere in the politics of other countries.
This “conflict-laden China-US duopoly” prompted SVP National Councilor Yves Nidegger in June last year to commission the Federal Council to conduct an analysis. Now, nine months later, the Federal Council approved the “China Strategy 2021-2024”. It is the first time that Switzerland has officially put a strategy for China on paper.
Switzerland as a pioneer
In fact, Switzerland has had close ties with China for decades. As early as 1950, the Federal Council recognized the People’s Republic of China as one of the first Western governments. In 2014, the free trade agreement between China and Switzerland entered into force. Switzerland was also a pioneer in this regard.
The motto was: change through trade. When the West trades with China, it gradually becomes a country with Western values: democracy, human rights, legal security. Above all, the FDP Finance Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann agitated this argument in favor of closer relations with China.
Trade is going splendidly. Once very poor, China is now Switzerland’s third largest trading partner and one of the three economic superpowers, along with the United States and the EU.
There was no change
The forecast change did not materialize, of course. China is now more than ever under the dictates of the Communist Party and its president Xi Jinping. Xi has given his country an ambitious new foreign policy.
Not only economically, but also technologically, politically and militarily, China is questioning the leadership role of the United States. There, politicians from left to right have identified China as the biggest foreign policy challenge, as the only nation that has the long-term potential to demote the United States to number two.
The new president of the United States, Joe Biden, wants to avoid this by trying to win states around the world as allies against China: either that is the new motto, you are with us, with democratic America, or you are on the side of China. dictatorial. For example, the United States wants to convince its allies to exclude Chinese tech companies like Huawei from contracts.
A piece of escapism
In the case of Iran, they have shown that the United States is capable of isolating a country economically for political reasons. Of course, China plays in a different league; total isolation would shake the world economy. However, pressure from the US will also increase on countries like Switzerland. And China, for its part, will be watching the effects of this pressure very closely. The Federal Council’s new China strategy aims to provide guidelines for Swiss policy.
The formation of a bloc “is not in the interest” of Switzerland, he says succinctly, the Federal Council is following a policy of “independent” China. A noble goal, but also a good dose of escapism: in fact, bloc formation has already begun and independent politics is being put to a severe test.
Sebastian Ramspeck
International Correspondent, SRF
