EU Calls China Summit A “Deaf Dialogue” On Ukraine

Not for the first time, China’s foreign ministry charged that Washington is “fanning the flames” in Ukraine by “imposing sanctions” on Russia and its “coercive words and deeds” in a Wednesday statement.

At the same time European Union has implied that Beijing is being tone deaf on the Ukraine crisis, with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell characterizing the latest EU summit with Xi Jinping as a “deaf dialogue”.

If the US earnestly hopes to help de-escalate the #Ukraine situation, it should stop fanning the flame, imposing sanctions or coercive words and deeds, Chinese FM spokesperson said on Wed. pic.twitter.com/nc8ocyuXbd

— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) April 6, 2022

“China wanted to set aside our difference on Ukraine,” Borrell said of last week’s virtual summit. “They didn’t want to talk about Ukraine. They didn’t want to talk about human rights and other issues, and instead focused on the positive things.”

The EU top diplomat described further that “the European side made clear that this compartmentalization is not feasible, not acceptable,” adding that, “For us the war in Ukraine is a defining moment for whether we live in a world governed by rules or by force.”

The clear allegation out of Brussels is that Beijing is showing little active interest in ending the war in Ukraine. Recently European leaders have been urging Beijing to intervene diplomatically to convince Putin to halt the invasion, which is now focused on securing Ukraine’s eastern regions.

Meanwhile, one top US Navy commander says China is watching the Russia-Ukraine war closely, with an eye on Taiwan:

As the Russia-Ukraine war continues, a senior US commander stated that Washington must remain vigilant on the Taiwan issue as China is increasing its capabilities and making adjustments to its plans to forcefully unite the island nation.

US Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said, “China is undoubtedly watching what’s happened in Ukraine, taking notes, and learning from it.”

Image: AFP

“And there will be learning and there will be adjustments to the extent that they’re able to learn from it. And they will improve their capabilities based on what they learn at this time,” Adm. Paparo told a gathering of Washington-based journalists from Indo-Pacific countries.

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Rabobank related to the above underscores that the Ukraine crisis has turned even Borrell into a hawk…

Even EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell is now a hawk, stating to the European Parliament tonight that last week’s EU-China Summit: “…was not exactly a dialogue, maybe a dialogue of the deaf… we could not talk about Ukraine a lot, and we did not agree on anything else. China… didn’t want to talk about Ukraine,… human rights and other stuff and instead focus on positive things. The European side make clear that this… compartmentalisation isn’t feasible… for us Ukraine is the defining moment on whether we live in a world governed by rules or by force. We condemn Russian aggression against Ukraine and support this country’s sovereignty, democracy, not because we follow the US blindly, as sometimes China’s suggests, but because it is our position… China cannot pretend to be a responsible great power but close its eyes or cover its ears when it comes to a conflict that obviously makes it uncomfortable… because it knows very well who the aggressor is, although for political reasons, refuses to name them.”