EU Warned China Not to Undermine Sanctions Against Russia

EU leaders say that the European Union has told China not to undermine its sanctions against Russia. But, at a video summit with the president and prime minister of Russia’s most important ally, they said they would be keeping a close eye on this.

 

With just three hours of straight talk time, the EU-China summit was “certainly not business as usual,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. She said that the two hours with Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang and the hour with President Xi Jinping passed in a “very sober” mood. All this is against the backdrop of the ongoing Russian war against Ukraine.

Russia has knocked on China’s door for help now that the war is less successful than expected, and the country is suffering from numerous Western sanctions. But that would not be in China’s interest, have suggested von der Leyen and her colleague Charles Michel of the council of government leaders of the EU countries Xi and Li. She pointed to the economic toll Beijing would then pay. “We will be vigilant” and make sure that China does not fall into it, after all, Michel said.

China barely said a word afterwards about the “Ukraine crisis”, one of the many problems the world would now grapple with. China hopes the EU will develop an “independent view” of China and an independent China policy, Beijing said. It has been argued that the EU has been paying too much attention to the United States for some time.

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