China claims to work for peace in Ukraine, but refuses to take a stand against Russia. Chinese leaders reaffirmed this at the 23rd EU-China summit. A new virtual meeting which made it possible to affirm the points of agreement, but also the differences between Beijing and Brussels on the means envisaged to silence the weapons.
From our correspondent in Beijing,
• Mediator-who-can
If Chinese state media this Saturday repeats the terms of the EU statement calling ” open and frank The discussions between European and Chinese leaders on Friday, they also recall that China is not a stakeholder in the conflict and that it alone cannot convince Moscow to recall its troops. To the great disappointment of those who would have liked Beijing to mediate, China reminds us that this will be done on its terms.
” We have always supported a ceasefire and we have contributed to the peace effort », affirmed Wang Lutong, in a press conference organized the day after the summit. And the Director General for European Affairs in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs recalls that on the second day of the conflict, President Xi Jinping called his Russian counterpart, before a first round of negotiations between Russians was held a few days later. and Ukrainians.
” I don’t think China’s role should be overstated, however. he continued. Military action is an independent decision taken by a sovereign state, Russia. Tell the Russians to stop this war and the Russians will stop: it doesn’t work like that! »
• Blocks against blocks
All the journalists present will have noticed, a rare thing, that a senior Chinese diplomat used the word “war”, rather than the terms “crisis” or “special military operation” hitherto used in the Kremlin. For Beijing, the key to the negotiations would also be in the hands of the Europeans, if they do not let themselves be drawn into a conflict of which Washington would be the cause. The Russian invasion will have allowed the official media to spin again around a theme dear to Beijing and Moscow, namely the supposed responsibility of the United States in the chaos of the world.
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Rather than asking China to take sides, the United States has the means to act, believes Chinese diplomacy. It would be as easy as a phone call. ” For example, the American president could call the Russian president and tell him that there will be no NATO expansion and no deployment of strategic weapons, with the neutrality of Ukraine, we could be reaching a solution. For Brussels, it is a question of avoiding the constitution of a China-Russia united front. As Chinese Premier Li Keqiang recalled on the virtual summit screen, Beijing says it opposes “ new hot and cold wars and a division between blocs”.
• Business must go on
China refuses to take sides in the conflict and to condemn its Russian “strategic partner”, but it opposes the sanctions which it considers counterproductive. ” We are not doing anything to deliberately circumvent the sanctions imposed on Russia,” indicated the head of European affairs with Chinese diplomacy, while recalling the regime’s opposition to these same sanctions perceived as a threat to the global supply chain and even to ” the international monetary order ». ” China is not a party to the Ukrainian crisis, recalled Wang Lutong. Therefore, our ‘normal’ trade with Russia cannot be affected. Because it is about employment and the level in China ».
On this point, Beijing has a good game of pointing out the fact that Europe continues to buy hydrocarbons from Russia. On Friday, the EU warned China that any support for Moscow to circumvent Western sanctions will damage its economic relations with Europe, which absorbs 15% of the Made in China exported around the world. Chinese diplomacy warns that it will oppose the ” secondary penalties which could target his companies if things go further between Beijing and Moscow.
• Sovereignty of nations
As a fine diplomat, Wang Lutong prefers to talk about commonalities rather than differences. ” We are all in favor of a political and diplomatic solution to this crisis, he pointed out. Both China and the EU respect the UN Charter and the integrity and sovereignty of nations. »
A reminder of the principles that could be useful to Beijing in the event of rising tensions with Taiwan. The party-state indeed considers the island as a rebel province and has not ceased since the start of the war in Ukraine to point out the difference in status between kyiv and Taipei. In 2013, Xi Jinping thus supported the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
Has the music changed with the new friendship? solid as a rock between China and Russia? ” Cooperation between China and Russia has no no-go zones, but it does have a bottom line which is that of international norms and rights “said the Chinese ambassador to the United States a little over a week ago. However, Xi Jinping has still not called Volodymyr Zelensky since the start of the conflict. ” It’s always been on the agenda, it’s just a matter of time “, affirmed this Saturday Wang Lutong.
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