Meeting With President Xi Jinping And PM Li, European Union Wants Assurances That China Will Not Help Russia In Ukraine

Illustration of the European Union. (Wikimedia Commons/Amio Cajander)

JAKARTA - European Union and Chinese leaders met for the first summit in two years on Friday in Brussels, Belgium wanting assurances from Beijing that they would not supply Russia with weapons or help Moscow evade Western sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine.

In unusual open language, EU officials close to summit preparations said any assistance provided to Russia would damage China's international reputation, jeopardize relations with its biggest trading partners, Europe and the United States.

It is planned that today's meeting will be between the Presidents of the European Commission and the Council of Europe, Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, virtually with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and later President Xi Jinping.

An EU official said China's stance on Russia would be a "million-dollar question" on Friday. Others point out that more than a quarter of China's global trade was with the bloc and the United States last year, compared to just 2.4 percent with Russia.

"Do we prolong this war or do we work together to end this war? That is an important question for the summit," the official said.

Separately, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi repeated China's call for peace talks this week, adding legitimate concerns from all sides must be accommodated.

Meanwhile, Wang Yiwei, a Europe expert at Beijing's Renmin University, said China and the European Union wanted the war to end.

"I imagine China wants to use this summit to discuss with the European Union how to create conditions acceptable to Putin for him to step down from his current position," he said.

China itself has concerns European countries are taking hard-line foreign policy cues from the United States, asking the European Union to "exclude external interference" from its relations with China.

The European Union abruptly switched in 2019 from soft diplomatic language to labeling China a systemic rival, but seeing it as a potential partner in fighting climate change or the pandemic.

Brussels and Beijing concluded an investment agreement in late 2020, designed to resolve some of the EU's concerns about mutual market access.

However, it is now postponed after Brussels sanctions against Chinese officials for alleged human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region, prompting Beijing to blacklist individuals and EU entities.

China has since suspended imports from Lithuania after the Baltic nation allowed Taiwan to open a de facto embassy in its capital, angering Beijing, which regards the democratically-ruled island as its own territory.