Beijing has become in recent months a center of pilgrimage for European leaders, in an attempt -unsuccessful so far- to stop China’s rapprochement with Russia in the midst of Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine. After the visits of Olaf Schölz in november, from Charles-Michel in December and from Pedro Sanchez last week, this thursday are Ursula von der Leyen and Emmanuel Macron those who meet with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping.
On this occasion, the novelty is that it is a joint mission that aims to stage European unity against China. In addition to the bilateral meetings that the French president and the president of the Commission plan to hold with Xi, a three-way meeting has also been scheduled.
It was Macron who invited Von der Leyen to join his entourage, perhaps to avoid the harsh criticism that Scholz received at the time, who was accused of only defending the interests of Germany and undermining the common European position. And it is that the French president is also going accompanied by 50 French business leaders.
[Von der Leyen pide a los líderes de la UE que resistan los intentos de China de dividirles]
The common goal of Von der Leyen and Macron is to convince the Chinese president to use the influence he has over Vladimir Putin to force a withdrawal of Russian troops from the Ukraine. However, neither is under any illusion that Beijing could become a neutral arbiter after Xi’s recent visit to Moscow, which has highlighted the growing convergence between China and Russia.
China can “play an important role” in “finding a path of peace” in Ukraine, the French president said on his arrival in Beijing on Wednesday. In his view, Xi’s peace plan, while deeply flawed, shows “a willingness to engage in conflict resolution.”
Before embarking on his trip to Beijing, Macron spoke by phone with both Volodimir Zelenski and Joe Biden, with whom he discussed “their common desire to involve China in hastening the end of the war in Ukraine and participate in building a lasting peace in the region”.
Emmanuel Macron began his state visit to China on Wednesday
Despite this willingness to coordinate, France and the United States disagree on the policy to adopt towards the Asian giant. Faced with the “decoupling” strategy advocated by the White House, the French president said on Wednesday that “we must not separate from Chinabut dialogue with voluntarism to continue having a commercial relationship with China”.
After all, in 2022 China was the Union’s third largest trading partner in terms of merchandise exports (9% of the total) and the largest partner of the Union in terms of imports (20.8%).
[La OTAN avisa a China de “consecuencias graves” si comete el “error histórico” de enviar armas a Rusia]
The president of the Community Executive also rules out the total disengagement from China and is committed to a “risk reduction” policy. However, Von der Leyen has taken advantage of his visit to Xi to harden his tone towards the Asian giant.
Relations with China “have become more distant and more difficult in recent years” because Beijing has veered towards a more repressive stance at home and more aggressive abroad, denounced in a speech last week.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during her speech last week on China
The role that Xi ends up adopting regarding Putin’s war will be “a determining factor for the future of EU-China relations.” “China is in a position to influence Russia constructively and, therefore, has a responsibility”, said the president in an interview to Financial Times.
The difference in tone between Macron and von der Leyen exposes the internal fractures in the EU on what position to adopt towards China. While large countries such as Germany, France or Spain give priority to commercial ties, others that have already suffered blackmail from Beijing, such as Lithuania, warn of the high risk of repeating the same mistakes that have already been made with Russia.
[Sánchez pide a Xi trabajar por una “paz duradera” en Ucrania basada en “la posición de Zelenski”]
“We must remember that attempts to contain Russia by offering it an economic partnership failed. In fact, Putin was emboldened by our flexibility, not persuaded. A similar tactic would also embolden China. Let’s not make the same mistake twice,” the Lithuanian Foreign Minister warned this week. Gabrielius Landsbergis.
After Von der Leyen and Macron, the next to travel to Beijing next week will be Josep Borrell, which has also increased the volume of its criticism of China of late. For the EU, the absolute red line for which there would be no possibility of turning back is the shipment of weapons to Moscow.
“China has a moral obligation to contribute to a just peace. They cannot side with the aggressor. They cannot support my aggression militarily (…) Many Europeans are traveling to China. But we have been clear with China: His position on Russia’s atrocities and war crimes will determine the quality of our relations with Beijing,” Borrell said.
