Reinhard Bütikofer debates EU-China talks and Beijing relations!

Описание: Reinhard Bütikofer, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Madam President, As the Commission and the EEAS announced before, this was not a ‘business as usual’ summit. It was certainly no ‘panda hugging’ event. It was more tense and more controversial than at any time before.

I’m happy that the European side did raise all the hot button issues, as you said, High Representative. I want to thank you for that. I also want to thank you for the support that you have given to those sanctioned, wherever they are.

This online summit will, in hindsight, be seen as the one moment in which both EU and China dropped any illusion about win—win cooperation. No more ‘go along to get along’, no covering up the deep divisions. We clearly are in rivalry territory now.

It has been China’s behaviour vis—à—vis Russia’s aggression against Ukraine that finally laid bare how big the distance has grown. China has formed a revisionist axis with Putin to overturn the multilateral rules—based order. China objected, together with Russia, against the European security order. China, in the case of Lithuania, also dared attacking the Holy Grail of the European Union – namely the single market.

There is clearly a need for us to push back, and I like Mr Winkler’s language about the push—back, and there shouldn’t be any hesitancy. We should not just implicitly talk about possible sanctions if they support Russia, but explicitly.

Xi Jinping played hardball at the summit. He played a cynical game. He demonstrated that he does not respect the EU as a partner. They do not want to accept who we are. But when they call for more autonomy, they will get a real geopolitical player. We will have to realise that the tough summit was just the opening of an era in which tough is the new normal, and we need one common European China policy to master that.

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.