Mick Wallace (The Left). - Mr President, the Chinese President made four proposals on the Ukraine crisis during the summit. He insists on promoting peace talks, on measures to prevent a wider humanitarian crisis, that we must build lasting peace in Europe and Eurasia, and we must prevent regional conflicts from spreading.
Before the meeting, China’s Foreign Minister’s spokesperson said ‘China disapproves of solving problems through sanctions and we are even more opposed to unilateral sanctions and long-arms jurisdiction that have no basis in international law. Beijing would not be forced to choose a side or adopt a simplistic friend or foe approach. We should in particular,’ he says, ‘resist Cold War thinking and block confrontation.’
Now, China hasn’t given arms to either side and is well placed to be a peace broker. I would appeal to them to be a peace broker. I appeal to France and Germany to step up efforts to stop this terrible war and work for peace. And for the life of me, I don’t understand why the UN Secretary-General isn’t shuttling between Minsk and Moscow to bring about mediation. Please, he should start.
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.
#eudebates the unique initiative aiming to promote debate, dialogue, knowledge, participation and communication among citizens. #China #EU #Russia #Ukraine #war #Putin
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.