European Union officials plan to put pressure on Chinese diplomats if Beijing offers Russia military aid for the war in Ukraine.
Top European Union (EU) officials are set to hold a virtual summit with China’s President Xi Jinping on Friday, mainly to discuss the war, which is now in its second month.
The long-delayed summit comes as China-EU relations are already strained over Beijing’s support for Russia.
The EU plans to warn China that there will be consequences, including sanctions, if it provides aid to Russia.
“We want to hear from them why they sided with the Russians,” an EU official said, according to the South China Morning Post. “And we will try to convince them that it is not in our common interest, knowing that this war will not be resolved by tomorrow.”
“We’re not asking them to sloppily walk behind us and say, ‘Yes, we love the EU.’ We ask them to face reality and see what is going on in Ukraine and not actively side with Russia or supply arms to Russia,” the official added.
An EU official said the message should be clear China will face serious consequences if Beijing offers military or financial support to the Kremlin to evade sanctions.
China argues that sanctions on Russia are also hurting China’s economy. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin pointed out that out of the 193 member states of the United Nations, more than 140 have not imposed sanctions on Russia
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said recently that normal trade and economic exchanges between countries and Russia here, Wenbin, is listening to a question at the Foreign Ministry’s daily briefing in Beijing on July 24, 2020. Getty Images
“I want to emphasize that the issue now is not who wants to help Russia circumvent sanctions, but that normal trade and economic exchanges between countries, including China, and Russia have already been unnecessarily affected,” Wenbin said a press conference.
“We urge the US to take seriously China’s concerns in handling the Ukraine issue and its relations with Russia and to avoid in any way undermining China’s legitimate rights and interests,” he continued.
China has denied reports it is ready to supply arms to Russia. However, US officials have expressed concern that China is siding with Russia in an uprising against the West.
“The National Security Advisor and our delegation have expressed our concerns about the People’s Republic of China directly and very clearly [People’s Republic of China] Post-invasion support for Russia and the impact such support would have on not only the PRC’s relations with us, but their relations around the world,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
Newsweek has reached out to the European Union and the Chinese Embassy for comment.