2023-05-12 14:02:00
The EU foreign ministers are deliberating on China and Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. Germany’s Foreign Minister Baerbock warns against the “principle of hope” in relations with China.
The foreign ministers of the EU states will discuss the latest developments in the war in Ukraine at an informal meeting in Sweden on Friday. The focus of the talks is continued support for the country attacked by Russia. An agreement on an eleventh package of sanctions is about to be reached, said Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) in Stockholm to the ORF.
The package includes options for trade restrictions with third countries, which are obviously platforms for circumventing existing sanctions. “This is new territory for the European Union, but I think it’s right and important that we do this. There’s a difference between not going along with our sanctions and consciously circumventing them, thereby undermining our policy in the conflict towards Russia “, like that Schallenberg. “It’s a rod that we’re going to put in the window.”
China is also viewed critically
The second major topic of the meeting is the EU’s relations with China. Concerning the EU position towards Beijing opined Schallenberg: “We Europeans must beware of painting the world in black and white.” China is “a systemic rival, but not only that. We have issues, keyword climate, where we have to work together.”
Schallenbergs German counterpart Annalena Baerbock warned against relying too much on the “principle of hope” with a view to the EU’s future relations with China. It has been seen that it can be deceptive to hope that economic dependencies can provide security, said the Greens politician on Friday. It is now a matter of learning from the mistakes of the past.
Specifically, Baerbock spoke out in favor of minimizing the security risks that currently exist, for example, due to the dependency on China for the supply of critical raw materials. From their point of view, there must be close cooperation between the EU countries. At the same time, Baerbock said that it was not about severing economic relations with China. “We as Europeans do not want decoupling,” she said.
The EU’s China policy is under scrutiny
In a keynote speech at the end of March, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen advocated rebalancing relations with the world’s most populous country. She emphasized that the EU must become more independent and minimize economic risks, for example in the supply chains of European companies. However, it is not in the interest of the EU to decouple itself from China.
The European External Action Service presented plans for a realignment of the EU’s China policy on Friday. The seven-page paper, seen by Reuters news agency, said that “cooperation, competition and rivalry will remain at the heart of the EU’s China policy, although the emphasis on these different elements may vary depending on China’s behavior.” The document also said that coordination with the US “remains essential”.
In a letter accompanying the proposal, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said there were at least three reasons for a “recalibration” of China policy. These are the extent to which China is changing with emerging nationalism and ideology, the intensification of competition between the US and China, and third, the fact that China is a major player in regional and global issues. In order to reduce the EU’s economic dependence on China, the paper proposes to scrutinize investments more closely and tighten export controls.
(APA/dpa/Reuters)
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