EU The EU is preparing to send a message to China: support for Russia in the war in Ukraine is worth considering carefully

Brussels

“China understands that the future of its economy is much more tied to the West than to Russia, ”said the President of the United States; Joe Biden said in Brussels last week.

This is the message that the European Union will also repeat as its series of summits continues with a meeting with China on Friday.

This time it is not a gathering of heads of state and women in Brussels, but a pro-videoconference in which the Member States are represented on the EU side by the President of the Commission. Ursula von der LeyenPresident of the European Council Charles Michel and the High Representative of the Union for External Relations Josep Borrell.

From the Chinese side, the president will come to the screen Xi Jinping and the Prime Minister Li Keqiang.

China’s and EU relations are in a worse state than ever, and the EU and the rest of the West are now watching whose forces China is going to stand in the war in Ukraine.

Read more: US and EU seek new position in China stuck on Russia’s side – ‘China’s vision is shaken’

Xi Jinping and the President of Russia Vladimir Putin met in early February In China a few weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In their joint statement, they condemned, among other things, NATO enlargement.

Later China abstainedwhen a majority of member states in the UN General Assembly called on Russia to withdraw from Ukraine.

On Wednesday, the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met in China. The meeting took place in a kind of parallel reality between the two superpowers, where, among other things, China praised Russia’s efforts to avoid a humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.

Read more: So thick that it already hurts: That’s how Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov is marketing a “new, fair world order” in China

China has supported Russia politically, but is clearly not prepared to pay too high a price for it, jeopardizing its economic relations with the EU and the United States. The border would likely be crossed if China substantially increased its military assistance to Russia. The EU intends to make this clear.

The European Parliament Chinese delegation Chairman, Greens Reinhard Bütikofer said at a media conference this week that it would be important for EU leaders to make China understand how united the EU has gone against Russia – and that the same unity would apply to China if necessary.

“They need to be able to tell that this is not a passing thing,” Bütikofer said.

Ukraine war is the main topic of the EU-China summit, but there is much more to be said.

Among other things, China is punishing Lithuania, an EU country that allowed Taiwan to set up its own mission in Vilnius and name it as a Taiwanese mission instead of Taipei – which China does not accept because Taiwan is part of China. As a punishment, China imposed various barriers to trade in products made in Lithuania.

The human rights situation in the Uighur region of Xinjiang is also eroding relations. China and the EU therefore imposed sanctions on each other in the spring of 2021. For the same reason, the investment agreement between China and the EU has not progressed.

The EU has had no illusions about China’s power policy. In the latest China strategy the country has been defined as an “systemic competitor” of the EU, which has irritated China.

With the war in Ukraine, illusions have worsened. The war has been a good reminder that excessive dependence on authoritarian countries like Russia and China is dangerous and should be reduced in time rather than late.