EU foreign ministers will meet on Friday to find a common approach to reducing Europe's dependence on China and to persuade Beijing to take a tougher stance on Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, UNN reports with reference to AFP.
Brussels is reportedly urging the 27 European Union countries to agree on a stance on China as Beijing increases its influence on the world stage. In a speech to the European Parliament this week, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz admitted that relations are getting tougher as "rivalry and competition from China has definitely increased".
"There is a desire to avoid confrontation with China, even if the dispute escalates," said Elvir Fabry of the Institut Jacques Delors think tank.
The sharpest of these differences is China's refusal to condemn its close ally Russia and its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, or to pressure Moscow to end the attack, it said. Brussels, as AFP writes, "enraged" Beijing by proposing to limit the export of sensitive technologies to eight Chinese companies suspected of supplying them to Russia.
A meeting of EU foreign ministers in Stockholm on Friday does not aim to reach any concrete conclusions, the newspaper reported, but "there is hope" that the talks could help push the European Union towards greater unity in its ongoing efforts to overcome the challenges posed by Beijing.
"It is important not to prevent China from becoming a world power, but to manage how China will use this power," EU foreign affairs and policy chief Josep Borrell said on Thursday.
Currently, the European Union officially classifies China as a partner, competitor and rival at the same time. EU officials said the emphasis could now shift to managing rivalry rather than working together. EU ministers will continue discussions on China with a meeting on Saturday with counterparts from the Asia-Pacific region, where they will in particular discuss tensions in the Taiwan Strait. According to the high-ranking EU official, the meeting will primarily concern "partnership building".
"There is no question that the participants will level with Russia during this meeting, and we must maintain the status quo between China and Taiwan to avoid escalation," he said.
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang warned against an "emotional" view of the war in Ukraine, saying during a visit to Germany that "the only way out is to remain calm and rational and create the conditions for a political solution."
