Charles Moore Charles Moore

Sweden and Britain are not the same

(Getty Images)

Mathias Döpfner is that still rare thing — an outspoken German. I have known him slightly for many years and admire his brain and boldness: a long time ago he even came close to buying the Telegraph Group. The 6ft 7in CEO of Axel Springer has just issued a challenge to Europe and particularly to his own country. In an article published on Sunday, he told Germany that it must stop dithering and choose. The coronavirus, he says, has brought out the great danger the Chinese Communist party presents to the West. If Germany does not lead the EU to side with the United States (and with post-Brexit Britain, Australia etc) European businesses will be snapped up by post-Covid China and Europe could ‘suffer a similar fate to Africa, on a gradual descent towards becoming a Chinese colony’. The West should not have let China into the WTO in 2001: ‘The big mistake was to expose democratic market economies to a non-democratic state capitalism that exploits easier trading and competitive conditions without subjecting itself to the same rules.’ China’s ‘highly perfected system of digital surveillance… translates the perversions of the KGB and Stasi into the 21st century.’ Döpfner warns: ‘If Germany decides to expand its 5G infrastructure with Huawei, that will place an enormous strain on transatlantic relations. It would be a turning point, as America could no longer trust Germany.’ That sentence should chill British readers. It’s already happening here.

Although I lean to the side of the Swedish experiment in herd immunity rather than the attempt to close down entire countries, one must remember that differing national circumstances and characters do matter. Sweden has a population of 10.33 million and a population density of 58.2 people per square mile. The United Kingdom has a population of 66.65 million and a density of 701.1

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in