A Russian defeat in Ukraine will not derail China’s rise, while relations between Beijing and the EU will be “critically affected” if Xi Jinping does not push Vladimir Putin to withdraw his forces, European ministers have been told,
the Guardian reports.
The message comes in a paper drawn up by the EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, who is meeting the EU’s 27 foreign ministers on Friday in Stockholm to discuss how the bloc should “recalibrate” its policy towards Beijing.
Along with the war in Ukraine, relations with China have become Europe’s most pressing foreign policy issue, but EU politicians take different approaches on how to respond to an increasingly repressive and nationalistic Beijing – revealed in the furore over Emmanuel Macron’s comments about not being drawn into a US-China clash over Taiwan.
In a letter to ministers to accompany the paper, Borrell highlights at least three reasons to adjust the EU’s approach: China’s internal changes “with nationalism and ideology on the rise”; the “hardening of US-China competition” in all areas and China’s status as a key regional and global player.
As EU talks got under way, Beijing announced it would send a special envoy to Ukraine, Russia and other European countries next week. China’s special representative for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, will lead a delegation to Ukraine, becoming the most senior Chinese diplomat to visit the country since the full-scale invasion of 2022. He will also visit Poland, France, Germany and Russia to “communicate with all parties on the political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis”, according to a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson.
The choice of Li, however, raises questions about China’s claims to be a neutral player. Li served as ambassador to Moscow for a decade until 2019 and was awarded an Order of Friendship medal by Putin.
European tensions with China have intensified since the Chinese and Russian leaders declared a “no-limits partnership” a few weeks before the invasion of Ukraine.
“China is siding clearly with Russia,” states the paper seen by the Guardian, which describes China’s purported peace plan for Ukraine as “a collection of China’s well-known positions on the matter” that “confirms its firmly pro-Russian stance”.
