diplomacy
Baerbock warns of “principle of hope” in relations with China
Annalena Baerbock: The EU foreign ministers are meeting in Sweden for talks. photo
© Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
Can the EU effectively tackle the circumvention of its Russia sanctions without jeopardizing relations with China? This question arises in Sweden. A proposal by the EU Commission is explosive.
With a view to the EU’s future relations with China, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has warned against relying too much on the “principle of hope”. One has seen that it can be deceptive to hope that one can ensure security through economic dependencies, said the Green politician at a meeting of EU foreign ministers, referring to the experiences with Russia. It is now a matter of learning from the mistakes of the past.
Specifically, Baerbock spoke out in favor of minimizing the security risks that currently exist, for example, due to the dependency on China for the supply of critical raw materials. From their point of view, there must be close cooperation between the EU countries.
“We are not the largest countries in the world, but the European Union as a whole, especially the European internal market, of course has a power and a strength that we should not underestimate and (…) should also use confidently,” said she. “Our strength is our togetherness.”
At the same time, Baerbock said that it was not about severing economic relations with China. “We as Europeans do not want decoupling,” she said. However, one can see that China is building up a systemic rivalry that goes against the international rules of the game. Unfortunately, the systemic rivalry has increased significantly in recent years.
What is the meeting about?
At an informal meeting in Sweden, the foreign ministers discussed the latest developments in the war in Ukraine. The focus of the talks is continued support for the country attacked by Russia. At least marginally, it should also be about proposals from the EU Commission for an eleventh package of sanctions against Russia. Above all, it is intended to combat the circumvention of the penal measures that have already been issued.
The second major topic of the meeting will be the EU’s relations with China. In a keynote speech at the end of March, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen advocated rebalancing relations with the world’s most populous country. She emphasized that the EU must become more independent and minimize economic risks, for example in the supply chains of European companies. However, it is not in the interest of the EU to decouple itself from China.
The topic is explosive not least because of the country’s position on the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. To date, the government in Beijing has not condemned the invasion. Chinese companies are accused of being involved in circumventing EU sanctions on Russia. This is one of the reasons why the EU Commission has now proposed for the eleventh package of sanctions to create the legal possibility of restricting selected exports to certain third countries due to suspected circumvention of sanctions.