Anna Michelle Asimakopoulou debates EU-China talks and Beijing relations!

Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou (PPE). – Mr President, High Representative, in the Brussels bubble, as ‘masters of constructive ambiguity’, we characterise China simultaneously as a cooperation partner, an economic competitor and a systemic rival, and finding the balance in this often contradictory mix can be extremely challenging.

Clearly, China cannot be labelled as a cooperation partner when it imposes sanctions on Members of this House. And dealing with China as an economic competitor requires the use of many tools, old and new, to deal with unfair practices with economic coercion, like the trade war against Lithuania.

In the case of Putin’s unconscionable war in Ukraine, the EU has taken a very clear stance to support Ukraine, to stand up for our principles and values, and to impose very strong sanctions against Russia. China, meanwhile, continues to sit on the fence, to put it mildly.

So, whilst China decides whether it is to act as a cooperation partner or a systemic rival when it comes to the war in Ukraine, the EU has to make its own decisions. Dialogue leading to diplomatic solutions is on the top of everybody’s wish list, but the EU must make it crystal clear to China that if it decides to act as a systemic rival towards the EU in the case of Ukraine, then secondary sanctions will be imposed on China.

Anything less than that simply undermines the unity, the credibility and the strength of our Union.

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.

[antel]

Like, what we do now with strong western unit support to our Ukraine, with strong western unit in balance
making every deal in future with China not EU allone in balance with USA UK and allies. That way will show China that free west democracy are in strong unit of western order.