China Can’t Abide a Russian Loss in Ukraine, Beijing’s Foreign Minister Tells EU
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi reportedly explained Beijing’s logic in supporting Russia in its invasion of Ukraine in a conversation this week with the European Union’s top diplomat.
According to several people familiar with the conversation, Wang told the EU’s High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, that China cannot abide a Russian loss because it fears the United States then would be empowered to put that much more leverage on Beijing.
In its exclusive report, South China Morning Post (SCMP) described the exchange as a “marathon four-hour debate on a wide range of geopolitical and commercial grievances” in which Wang offered Kallas several “history lessons and lectures”.
“One interpretation of Wang’s statement in Brussels is that while China did not ask for the war, its prolongation may suit Beijing’s strategic needs, so long as the US remains engaged in Ukraine,” the SCMP wrote.
Beijing has long contended that it is “not party” to the Russo-Ukraine war, and regularly denies accusations that it has supplied weapons or other components to Moscow’s war machine.
Nonetheless, the EU has called on Beijing to stop its flow of technology to Moscow that helps its drone-production industry, especially.
At the ‘Fair Play’ conference in Kyiv last week, dedicated to introducing additional sanctions against Russia, the EU’s special envoy on sanctions enforcement related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, David O’Sullivan estimated about 80 percent of the components that Russia uses in weapons production come via China, and this is the biggest challenge for the EU’s sanctions policy.
In her Wednesday meeting with Wang, Kallas “called on China to put an end to its distortive practices, including its restrictions on rare earths exports, which pose significant risks to European companies and endanger the reliability of global supply chains,” a statement from her office said.
The 27-member bloc is set to vote shortly on whether to blacklist two small Chinese banks for flouting its sanctions on Russia, SCMP reported. Those measures would be included in the EU’s in its 18th package of sanctions on Moscow, which also call for the cessation of Russian imports of fossil fuels into Europe.
Source: Kyiv Post