Editorial of the “World”. The leaders of the European Union wanted to try to draw from their virtual summit with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and the Prime Minister, Li Keqiang, Friday 1 Er April, a commitment from China to Not bypass Western penalties against Russia. They hit a wall. China remained dull to the calls of Europe. The time of the illusions, for those who still had on the attitude of Beijing, is clearly overhaul.
The discussion, said the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who led him with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, was “frank and open”, a diplomatic way to say that it has been unpleasant. Both parties exchanged, she emphasized, “clearly opposite points of view”.
The appeal releases published by Beijing on the interviews do not show any elements of convergence other than the usual hollow formulations on the virtues of dialogue and peace. President XI acknowledged that the situation in Ukraine was “deeply regrettable” – no one could contradict it on this point. China, brought Mr. Li, is against the war, “hot or cold”, against the division of the world in blocks, and refuses to take part. Beijing is not committed to using its influence with Moscow to put an end to the war, nor not help Russia amortize the shock of Western penalties.
“Friendship without limits”
This Chinese refusal must not be a surprise. Three weeks before the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin went to Beijing and signed with President XI an important joint statement, sealing a “limited friendship”. It seems difficult to conceive that it has not put at the time its Chinese interlocutors in the confidence of at least some of its military intentions on Ukraine. The fact that the war began only after the end of the Beijing Olympic Winter Games is probably not due to chance. Finally, two days before the EU-China Summit, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, was received in Beijing by his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, who assured him that “China wanted to collaborate with Russia.” Then he went to India, where the government also observes a very accommodating line vis-à-vis Moscow about Ukraine.
For Europeans, who have the merit of having, this time, firmly held their positions – including on their solidarity with Lithuania, target of Beijing retaliation measures – and clearly expressed their requirements against Chinese leaders, The time of choice has come. They must first prepare for the consequences of a more concrete cooperation of Beijing with Moscow on Ukraine: if China is helping Russia bypassing sanctions, warned Ursula von der Leyen, it will have an impact on European investments in China. This warning, probably audible to Beijing as the country goes through economic turbulence, should not remain without effect. But the effect will also be sensitive about European economies.
They must also prepare to re-evaluate their strategy in the Indo-Pacific, in particular by focusing on Japan and South Korea, in the light of changing relations of China and India with Russia. The shock wave of the war in Ukraine will not spare this region.