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cityhantam · 31-03-2023, 01:28 PM

"Far from being put off by the atrocious and illegal invasion of Ukraine, President Xi is maintaining his 'no limits friendship' with Putin's Russia," von der Leyen said in a major policy address. Rotfl

cityhantam · 31-03-2023, 01:37 PM

https://www.politico.eu/article/eus-ursu...visit/amp/

In a scathing speech ahead of her visit to China next week, Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday warned Beijing not to side with Moscow in bringing compromised peace to Ukraine, saying: “How China continues to interact with Putin’s war will be a determining factor for EU-China relations going forward.”

She implied, for the first time, that the EU could terminate pursuing a landmark trade deal with China, which was clinched in 2020 but subsequently stalled by the European Parliament after some of its members were sanctioned by Beijing.

“We have to recognize that the world and China have changed in the last three years — and we need to reassess CAI in light of our wider China strategy,” she said at an event co-hosted by the European Policy Center and Merics, referring to the China trade deal, known as Comprehensive Agreement on Investment.

While von der Leyen has commented critically on China in the past, this is the first time the EU chief has given a full speech on the bloc’s relations with Beijing. Pointing to the situation in Taiwan, human rights violations in Xinjiang, and economic retaliations against Lithuania, she said: “These escalatory actions point to a China that is becoming more repressive at home and more assertive abroad.”

“We are concerned by what is behind this return to the global stage,” said von der Leyen, who will be traveling to China next week with French President Emmanuel Macron. “We have seen a very deliberate hardening of China’s overall strategic posture for some time. And it has now been matched by a ratcheting up of increasingly assertive actions.”
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