Billy Kelleher (Renew). - Mr President, I’m very disappointed with the outcome of the EU-China summit. I think it highlighted the fact that we can no longer trust China as an honest, independent broker in terms of being a partner in trade or in diplomacy. The fact that in the discussions around Ukraine and how it exposed itself to be a supporter of an illegal invasion where there are catastrophic, humanitarian challenges now in the Ukraine, war crimes being committed, and yet China fails to condemn the Putin war machine.
So, I am very disappointed but I am not surprised, Mr Borrell. But I do welcome the fact that you did engage, even though I’ve criticised you previously when you travelled to Moscow that time knowing full well that Moscow was only going to use it as a propaganda stunt. But I welcome the fact that at least engagement was made.
But we have to put on the record the appalling abuse of the Uyghur people, the human rights abuses in Hong Kong, the dismantling of the free press of a democracy. They are many instances of China’s bully tactics, and we have to now accept that it is no longer an honest player in international affairs. It is a pariah, unfortunately.
MEPs unite for a firm European stance against Beijing! Josep Borrell explains: EU China summit was a ‘dialogue of the deaf’.
- Josep Borrell comes out in strong criticism of China! Deaf dialogue!
The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, briefed MEPs on the outcome of the EU-China summit, which took place on Tuesday 5 April. “It was a dialogue of the deaf”, he described.
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China on Friday renewed its criticism of Western sanctions against Russia, as top European Union officials sought assurances from Beijing that it would not help Moscow circumvent the economic measures imposed in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
EU leaders are being urged to tell China it will face sanctions if it offers military aid to Russia for the war in Ukraine, amid concerns about a deepening authoritarian alliance that threatens the rules-based international order.
Senior EU and Chinese leaders are expected to hold discussions on Friday 1st April at a video summit that is likely to be dominated by the war.
EU diplomats said the the bloc’s representatives needed to pass on a message that Beijing would pay a price for any intervention in support of Russia’s war.
“Our expectation is that the summit is not business as usual,” one senior EU diplomat said. “The message should be clear: any military or financial support of China to Russia, also to circumvent sanctions, will have serious consequences for EU-China relations.”
A second diplomat said the summit would be a defining moment that would shape the relationship between Brussels and Beijing for years to come. “It’s pretty clear that if they help Russia in the way that they provide weapons, or help circumvent sanctions, this will open up all kinds of possibilities, not least in a very firm transatlantic alliance,” the diplomat said.
“The EU won’t take it lightly if China openly takes sides with Russia,” they added, saying that there was a “big convergence” on the issue among the EU’s 27 member states.
China has denied reports that it was prepared to provide Russia with weapons. Zhang Pei, a researcher at the China Institute of International Studies, which is under China’s foreign ministry, said Beijing had been alarmed in recent weeks by Europe “copying the US rulebook by claiming that China is considering providing military assistance to Russia”. China has accused the US of spreading misinformation.
Beijing has abstained on UN security council resolutions condemning the war. It has also echoed, and amplified, Kremlin talking points in official media outlets, blaming Nato for the conflict and recycling conspiracy theories that the US and Ukraine had been pursuing a biological weapons programme together. China’s foreign ministry has insisted on what some western analysts see as a “pro-Russia neutrality” approach.
Three weeks before Russia launched its war on Ukraine, Vladimir Putin met his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, at the Winter Olympics in Beijing. They released a statement on 4 February that pledged a “no limits” partnership and declared there were “no ‘forbidden’ areas of cooperation”.
EU diplomats are not convinced Xi was informed of Putin’s intention to wage a full-scale war on Ukraine and believe Beijing is worried about its Covid-hit economy, but they nevertheless see a new authoritarian axis emerging.