German Defense Minister Pistorius believes that the United States may reduce its presence in EuropeMilitaryEngagement, will shift more to the Indo-Pacific region. However, it is not clear whether this view is correct. Another possibility is that the United States is not willing to defeat Russia outright, causing Europe to lose its balance and thus allow the European powers to re-emerge.
Germany and other European countries want to get rid of Russia's centuries-old security pressure, and this is a golden opportunity. German Defense Minister Pistorius noted that Europe clearly understands that ifWashingtonNew funding for Ukraine cannot be agreed, and Europe may need to fill the US aid gap. German Chancellor Scholz also said earlier that Russia must fail and that Germany is willing to increase its share if allies reduce aid to Ukraine. This shows that Germany and other European countries are aware that the benefits of defeating Russia far outweigh the risks for Europe.
Since the end of the Cold War, Europe has enjoyed the dividends of peace, significantly disarmed, reduced military spending, phased out obsolete equipment, and relied on NATO and the United States for security. However, during the Trump era, the United States demanded that Germany increase its military spending to 2% of GDP, but Germany ignored this demand and instead demanded that the United States withdraw its troops. Therefore, the GermanMilitaryIts strength has been reduced to only one-tenth of that of the Cold War, for example, in terms of the number of tanks, Germany has more than 2,000 tanks of various types, and now only 280 are left, which is not even as good as Russia. As a result, Germany felt that it needed time to rearm, and Pistorius said: "It will take us about five to eight years to catch up in terms of the armed forces, industry and society."
in Russia against UkraineMilitaryThe action was preceded by a huge miscalculation that Europe would succumb because of energy. Now, however, European countries are more actively involved in assisting Ukraine than the United States. In addition, with Germany as the core, it has established close ties with Poland, Finland, the Netherlands, Bulgaria and other countries, and quickly armed itself, so that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is gradually evolving into a Russian-European confrontation. At the same time, it also poses a serious challenge to China-EU relations. According to Pistorius, Germany will no longer be associated with these valuesInternationalIt would be very dangerous to have any contacts with countries with large differences, and to hand these countries over to Russia and China. Germans generally believe thatChina and RussiaThe two countries are very similar, is this due to the arrogance of the Germans or a misunderstanding?
The disagreement of the United States with new funding to aid Ukraine may be due to its adjustmentsMilitaryThe need for a center of gravity may also be motivated by a reluctance to throw Europe out of balance. European countries must come to Ukraine's aid, which is a good opportunity to get rid of Russian security pressures, and European countries also know that the benefits of defeating Russia far outweigh the risks. European countries need to rearm to compensate for the disarmament of the post-cold-war eraMilitaryStrength vacancy. The Russian-Ukrainian conflict is evolving into a Russian-European confrontation, and European countries are beginning to strengthen themselves while assisting UkraineMilitarystrength, forming a confrontational posture with Russia. However, for the Germans,China and RussiaWhether similar views are based on arrogance or misunderstanding is unknown. In any case, the current situation is a serious challenge for China-EU relations, which requires sustained efforts from all parties to address and resolve.