Ukraine-Russia, EU and China far away on war: Xi does not take sides

The EU and China on the war in Ukraine unleashed by Russia have “opposite views”. For Brussels, “equidistance” between Moscow and Kiev (and the West) of Beijing “is not enough”, because it is time to “take clear positions” in favor of the “international order based on rules”. From China, the EU expects “a clear commitment to peace”, which has not yet arrived. The president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen was clear, at the end of the twenty-third EU-China summit, held by videoconference, which ended by confirming the positions of the eve. From Beijing, President Xi Jinping urged the European Union to adopt an “independent” policy towards China, proposing that the 27 and the Dragon “intensify their contacts on bilateral issues and major issues relating to global peace and development. and play a constructive role in adding a factor of stability to the turbulent world. ” No clear condemnation of the Russian aggression against Ukraine came from the secretary of the Communist Party of China, nor were there any illusions in Brussels, so much so that a joint declaration was neither planned nor released. Michel and von der Leyen, also on a mandate from the capitals, met, together with High Representative Josep Borrell, in the morning with Prime Minister Li Keqiang, for a couple of hours, and in the early afternoon, for less than an hour , with President Xi Jinping. Michel was also clear: Beijing, he stressed, “cannot close its eyes to the violations of international law committed by Russia” by attacking Ukraine. A war that “is not in anyone’s interest”, neither of the EU nor of China, because it sows “instability”. And he warned that the Union will monitor “any attempt to help Russia financially and militarily”. The fear is that Beijing could help Moscow cushion the impact of Western sanctions. Von der Leyen was even clearer: if China doesn’t support sanctions, “at least don’t interfere”, she cut it short. And she also issued a transparent warning, recalling that the “business community” is monitoring the situation “very carefully”, evaluating how the different countries “position themselves” with respect to the war. It is a question of “trust, reliability and decisions on long-term investments”. Michel stressed that “dialogue does not mean being blind” and that with Li and Xi “we also discussed issues on which we disagree”. The EU has raised “concerns about China’s treatment of minorities in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Tibet”. “Regret” was expressed about the situation in Hong Kong. Von der Leyen made an explicit reference to the violation of workers’ rights, as well as human rights, in Xinjiang, where Uighurs are subjected to forced labor. The president of the Commission also remarked that China must “cease” the discriminatory trade measures against Lithuania, which has been punished for its support of Taiwan and its determination to defend human rights in Hong Kong and Xinjiang. And you stressed that China, as a permanent member of the Security Council, has a “special responsibility” in the current crisis, also considering that it has influence over Russia. The relations between the EU and China, you added, are “multiple” and “there are clearly parts of rivalry”. The Commission she leads has defined in writing China as a “systemic rival” of the EU, a first for a Europe that has long been compliant with the Asian giant, in the belief that free trade and the development of a middle class would in the long run led to a progressive democratization of Chinese society (the vulgate of the ‘end of history’, which instead got back into motion). agenda, which is not necessarily in line with that of the West. They are, in fact, a “systemic rival”. Cooperation between China and the EU is “necessary” in areas such as the fight against climate change and also against the pandemic, but the war in Ukraine is the “moment of truth”, stressed von der Leyen. The investment agreement signed with China on 30 December 2020 remains firm, so much so that it was not even mentioned during the press conference of the two presidents. The EU’s final declaration underlines the need to remove the sanctions imposed on some MEPs: to ratify the agreement, the European Parliament’s yes is required and it is very difficult for it to arrive, as long as Beijing sanctions its members. relations between Brussels and Beijing. As the Dutch historian Luuk van Middelaar recalled in a series of lectures at the Collège de France, China, a great power determined to regain the place it has always had in the world panorama except for the ‘century of humiliation’, which began in 1839 with the first opium war and ended with the rise to power of the Communist Party of Mao Tse Tung in 1949, it constitutes a “threat” to a disunited and indecisive Europe. Faced with a Europe that “knows what it wants” even on a geopolitical level and that is able to defend itself, Beijing “will show respect”.