The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, will visit China this week, expanding the pace of visits by European leaders who believe they can influence Moscow in the Ukraine war.
Borrell’s visit, between April 13 and 15, comes a few days after the French President, Emmanuel Macron, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, visited the Asian country. Pedro Sánchez, the Prime Minister of Spain, also visited China two weeks ago. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was in Beijing last November. He was followed by Charles Michel, President of the European Council.
European leaders have repeatedly urged Beijing to use its influence with Russia to end the war in Ukraine. “If there is only one country that can make Moscow change its calculations, it is China,” admitted an official in Macron’s office, on the eve of the French leader’s visit.
However, Beijing’s position on the conflict remains intact. China has said it is neutral but has an “unlimited” relationship with Russia and has refused to criticize the invasion. The country has previously criticized the imposition of sanctions on Moscow and has openly blamed NATO enlargement for the war.
In a proposed document last February to end the conflict, Beijing stressed the importance of “respecting the sovereignty of all countries”, referring to Ukraine, but also called for an end to the “Cold War mentality” – a term often used by China to criticize US foreign policy.
“None of the European leaders managed to lift the cloud of ambiguity about the real intentions of the [presidente chinês] Xi Jinping in Ukraine”, recalled Sylvie Kauffmann, a columnist for Le Monde, after Macron’s visit.
Borrell arrives in Beijing confident that the Beijing-Moscow partnership has limits, despite official rhetoric to the contrary. He recently stressed that China, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, must act to protect the rules-based international order. Beijing has “moral obligations” and cannot side with the aggressor, he said.
“We were clear with China: its position on atrocities and war crimes will determine the quality of our relations with Beijing,” said the head of European diplomacy.
Borrell’s visit also comes after Emmanuel Macron defended, in China, that Europe must distance itself from the growing tensions between Beijing and Washington, sparked by the Taiwan issue, and forge “strategic autonomy” at all levels, from energy defense.
Europe must remain focused on its own goals, he stressed. “We are interested in accelerating [uma crise] on the Taiwan question? No,” she said. “The worst thing would be to think that we Europeans should become followers on this issue and adapt to the American agenda and an overreaction from the Chinese side,” she said.
Macron’s remarks were criticized by members of the United States Congress and parliamentarians from eastern and central European countries, as Washington reaffirms its commitment to defending Ukraine.
Republican Senator Marco Rubio called Macron’s interview “disturbing” and suggested that Washington reconsider its support for Ukraine. “If Macron speaks for all of Europe and his position now is that they are not going to choose between the US and China on the Taiwan issue, then perhaps we shouldn’t take sides either… and [deixá-los] deal only with Ukraine,” he said.
Analysts also consider that Macron’s remarks signaled Europe’s “disunity” towards China, as they contrast with the position expressed by Ursula von der Leyen in Beijing, that a change in the status quo by force in the Taiwan Strait would be “unacceptable”.
Josep Borrell will thus have to “correct some illusions [chinesas] on the EU position,” prompted by Macron’s remarks, said Reinhard Bütikofer, chairman of the Chinese delegation to the European Parliament. “He must explicitly insist that the EU opposes any unilateral change in the Taiwan Strait,” he defended.
Source: TSF
