BRUSSELS: Top EU officers advised China’s leader Xi Jinping at a virtual peak on Friday that any attempt to prop Russia’s war in Ukraine could hurt business ties between the two profitable superpowers.
The EU and US worry that Beijing’s failure to condemn the irruption means it could be willing to help the Kremlin sidestep the impact of warrants or indeed force tackle to prop the war trouble.
“ No European citizen would understand any support to Russia’s capability to wage war. Also, it would lead to major reputational damage for China than in Europe,” European Commission principal Ursula von der Leyen said.
“ The business sector is watching veritably nearly the events and assessing how countries are situating themselves. This is a question of trust, of trustability and of course of opinions on long-term investments.” Von der Leyen claimed that “ China has an influence on Russia and thus we anticipate China to take its responsibility to end this war and that Russia comes back to a peaceful accommodations result”.
The addresses with President Xi– originally intended to concentrate on issues like trade and climate change– were overshadowed by Western fears of Chinese support for Moscow in its attack on Ukraine.
Chinese state media reported that Xi told the EU the two sides should “ play a formative part on China-EU relations and major issues concerning global peace and development, as well as give some stabilizing factors to a turbulent world”.
“ We hope that the EU can form its own perception of China, pursue its own independent policy towards China,” Xi was reported to have said.
A Chinese foreign ministry functionary said after the first round of addresses involving premier Li Keqiang that the two sides “ agreed to work together to maintain peace, stability, and substance in the world”.
Frozen trade pact
The EU’s relations with its largest trading mate had formerly been bombarded by pressures ahead of Moscow’s assault on Ukraine and the periodic peak was skipped last time as ties rasped.
The exchange of tit-for-tat warrants over the plight of China’s Uyghur nonage, followed by Beijing’s trade compulsion of EU- member Lithuania over Taiwan, estranged the mood.
The downgrade in relations came unexpectedly snappily after the EU and China secured the investment deal in late 2020 long sought by Germany.
Mortal rights enterprises, and US pressure on the EU, softened instigation, sowing mistrust, and sinking political ties.
