European leaders believe Xi’s invitation to Sanchez is a plan to divide them over Ukraine

In fact, Sánchez will be the third European leader to travel to Beijing since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. The first visit and the most controversial it was the chancellor’s Olaf Schölz in November 2022, who was accused of favor the interests of Germany and undermining the unity of the EU, as well as giving oxygen to Xi in the midst of the controversy over his zero covid policy.

Much more unnoticed went the visit of the President of the European Council, Charles-Michel, the last December. The French Emmanuel Macron He plans to travel to Beijing on April 4. Xi has also invited Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, although the appointment does not yet have a date. The Chinese president has embarked on a kind of seduction offensive with European leaders, although in Brussels they suspect that his ultimate goal is to generate division.

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Indeed, Xi’s meeting with Putin this week in Moscow has been a “revealing moment” for Europeans. “Many hoped that China could take on the role of go-between (in the Ukraine war). But China is not doing that at all. China is certainly moving openly on Russia’s side right now and that is a big challenge. and a great difficulty for all of us”, said the Prime Minister of Latvia, Krisjanis Karinsat the European Council held in Brussels.

In his opinion, it would be best to have “a joint European position towards China”. “Together, we are very strong. Individually, it is divide and conquer,” advises Karins.

The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has also addressed relations between the EU and Beijing during his speech at the European Council. Guterres has highlighted that Xi Jinping still wants to have a positive dialogue with Brussels and has warned European leaders of the “high risk of isolating China”as reported by community sources.

Pedro Sánchez alleges that China “It is a global player of the first order”, so it is “important to know first-hand his position on peace in Ukraine.” The President of the Government assures that he will coordinate with the rest of the EU partners and will transfer to Xi that they must be “the Ukrainians themselves who establish the conditions for the start of that peace when it comes”, an extreme that is not contemplated in the Chinese plan.

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“The most important thing, the fundamental thing, is to preserve an international order based on rules and that means respecting the United Nations charter and fundamentally one of its main pillars, which is the respect for the territorial integrity of Ukraine that is being violated by President Putin“Sánchez insists.

At the same time, the President of the Government maintains that the invitation of the Chinese president supposes a “recognition international“ for Spain at a time “as complex of geopolitical difficulties as the ones we are experiencing”.

“It is important for China to respect the rules-based international order and the UN charter, which establishes that no country can attack another. If someone does, you have the right to defend yourself. Sending arms to a country that is defending itself respects the UN charter, while helping the aggressor does not,” said Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, one of the emerging leaders in the EU.

The head of community diplomacy, Josep Borrell, has repeated this Thursday that “China is not helping Russia at the moment.” However, the NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberghas assured this week that “Russia has asked for it (the shipment of lethal weapons) and it is an issue that is being considered in Beijing by the Chinese authorities.”

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Despite these differences on the arms issue, the EU and NATO share their skepticism of Xi’s peace plan for Ukraine. According to Stoltenberg, the chinese plan includes “positive elements” such as nuclear security, the protection of civilians and the defense of sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. At the same time, the ceasefire demanded by Beijing “would only be a way to freeze the war and guarantee that Russia can recover and attack again.”

“There are elements (in the Chinese plan) that could be useful and elements that are not so useful. But the devil is in the details,” the Dutch prime minister said Thursday. Mark Rutte. In his opinion, if Xi intends to assume a role of mediator in the war, he must establish “direct communication” with the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelensky. “It is up to Zelensky and his team to negotiate whatever proposal is on the table if they see any merit in it. But first that communication must be established,” Rutte said.

For Borrellthe key problem of the plan of China “is that it does not distinguish between the aggressor and the victimputting both parties on the same level.” “FFrankly, a very great intellectual effort is needed to consider it a peace plan. It is rather a compilation of the Chinese positions on the matter,” he said last Monday.

Also the Commission of Ursula von der Leyen It has entered a phase of maximum distrust towards China. His team has been banned from installing the TikTok app on the mobiles of the Euroofficials for fear of spying by Beijing. Von der Leyen has also presented a roadmap to disengage from China’s dependence on raw materials and green technologies. The EU does not want to repeat the same mistakes with China as with Russia’s energy.