Yesterday at 23:16
China will use the joint summit with the European Union to try to sow seeds of discord in the strategic relationship between the EU and the US. This opinion was expressed on the FREEDOM TV channel by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (2004-2005), Ambassador of Ukraine to the USA (2006-2010), Ambassador of Ukraine to France (2014-2020) Oleg Shamshur.
“Of course, in any meeting between China and the Europeans, there is always a point that China will use, as much as possible, the meeting to try to sow the seeds of discord in relations between the European Union and the United States. We saw this most, it seems to me, obviously during Macron’s visit to China,” he said.
According to Shamshur, all parties are concerned about the imbalances that exist in trade and economic relations between China and the United States and, accordingly, between China and the European Union.
“Based on von der Leyen’s statements and what analysts write and say, the delegation of the European Union is precisely determined not to fall into, if you like, a Chinese trap. When we talk about continuing bilateral relations, we should focus on the problems that exist in relations between the European Union and China, including problems in the field of geostrategy. It is no coincidence that the European Union says that issues related to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, problems in the Middle East and, obviously, issues related to Taiwan will be discussed. That is, all this will happen,” the diplomat said.
He believes that the delegation of the European Union is committed to a fairly open and perhaps unpleasant dialogue for China.
The diplomat noted that the very holding of the first joint EU-China summit in the last 4 years is since the parties understand the need to maintain relations at a certain level and discuss problematic issues that have already accumulated.
“This also applies to imbalances in economic relations, in particular the problem of Chinese subsidies for the production of electric cars, which are beginning to flood the European market, and geostrategic issues,” Shamshur said.
He does not rule out that the issue of circumventing sanctions will also be discussed.
“I don’t think it will have a positive impact because I don’t believe that Chinese companies can act without at least the tacit consent of the authorities. But, nevertheless, this is a real and very serious problem that needs to be addressed. And it is important that this is exactly what the delegations of the European Union will talk about,” the diplomat said.
At the same time, he is confident that China cannot ignore the fact that both the United States and European countries are its main economic partners, and therefore the European Union has leverage over China.
“The EU is willing to speak frankly about the imbalances and its policy of de-risking the economic relationship with China when China is using what they say is the openness of the European Union to penetrate European markets, while at the same time creating obstacles for European companies to operate in Chinese markets … That is, it is absolutely obvious that this will be on the negotiating table,” Shamshur said.
