In a virtual summit, the EU called on China to use its influence over Russia to stop the war in Ukraine. “The international community, and specifically China and the EU, have a responsibility to use their combined influence and diplomacy to end the Russian war in Ukraine and the related humanitarian crisis,” tweeted EU Council President Charles Michel.
Michel took to Twitter after speaking with China’s Premier Li Keqiang. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also participated in the conversation with Li.
China’s head of state and party leader Xi Jinping expressed his hope that the EU would avoid US influence in Chinese politics. According to state television, after his talks with EU leaders, Xi Jinping said China expects the European side to “have an independent perception of China and pursue an independent policy towards China”.
“China and the EU must play a constructive role
The president of China pointed out that the corona pandemic was ongoing, the global economy was struggling, and then there was the crisis in Ukraine. In these circumstances, China and Europe, as major world powers, markets and civilizations, must intensify communication and play a constructive role in their relations and in the major issues of peace and development in the world to create stabilizing factors in a turbulent period, he said. . he was quoted as telling state television.
According to experts, Beijing fears that the war in Ukraine will bring Europeans and Americans even closer together. The relationship between the US and China is at its lowest point since diplomatic relations were established in 1979. Both sides have been embroiled in a trade war for years. Other points of contention, similar to those of Europeans regarding China, are the persecution of the Uighurs and Tibetans, the suppression of opposition in Hong Kong or the Chinese saber towards free Taiwan.
Together against the USA
In addition, Beijing accuses the United States of preventing its rise in the world and wanting to contain its growing influence. According to observers, one of the main reasons China still lags behind Russia, despite the atrocities in the Ukraine war, is the hope that it can continue to join forces with its “strategic partner” in the future against the US rivals.
Despite its political support for Russia, China wants to work for peace in Ukraine with Europeans and the international community, according to Prime Minister Li Keqiang. According to Chinese sources, the prime minister said on Friday after the talks that China was promoting peace talks “in its own way”.
His country is working with the EU and the world and wants to “play a constructive role in easing the situation, ending hostilities, averting a major humanitarian catastrophe and restoring peace soon.” China is committed to sovereignty and territorial integrity, fundamental norms in international relations and conflict resolution “through dialogue and negotiations,” Li Keqiang said, according to China’s Foreign Ministry.
The Russian-Ukrainian war is putting enormous strain on relations between Brussels and Beijing and is also overshadowing the EU-China virtual summit, which was originally created as a conference on trade issues and the climate crisis.
Blaming the West
The leadership in Beijing has not yet condemned the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. Externally, China offers itself as a neutral mediator, but state media largely follows the Russian line and is primarily critical of the US and NATO.
The head of the department responsible for relations with Europe at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Lutong, wrote on Twitter that Brussels and Beijing agreed to “work together to maintain peace, stability and prosperity in the world”. On Ukraine, Li said, “China rejects both a hot war and a cold war.” China is fundamentally against “blocking and partisanship.”
China is the EU’s biggest trading partner. Relations between the two sides had already cooled before the war in Ukraine, in part because of Western sanctions against Beijing for discrimination against the Uighurs. However, the EU has so far avoided threatening sanctions against China if it officially supports Russia in the war against Ukraine.
The EU hopes that the leadership in Beijing is aware of the importance of the EU as an economic partner. In 2021, goods worth around €700 billion were traded between China and the 27 EU countries – making the EU by far China’s most important trading partner. Russia doesn’t even appear on the list of China’s top ten trading partners.
Instead, the US ranks second after the EU and has even threatened China with sanctions in case of clear material support from Russia. Punitive measures should be imposed, especially if Chinese companies or banks circumvent US sanctions against Russia.
Recently, Russia and China have repeatedly emphasized their close partnership. During a visit by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to China on Thursday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that “Sino-Russian cooperation” is “boundless”.