The Russian invasion of Ukraine “is becoming a problem” for relations between China and the European Union (UE), recognized the new ambassador of the Asian country to the Twenty-seven, Fu Cong, in an interview with the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post.
Fu, who took up a post this month that had been vacant for a year, also said the war has put China “in a very difficult situation” as Beijing “does not want to have to choose between friends”, referring to ties with Moscow and kyiv.
The diplomat assured that China has suffered “collateral damage” as a result of “this crisis”, and accused the United States of “getting a cut out of it” not only with the sale of arms but also because of the energy crisis situation in which the European countries entered.
About the China-Russia relationshipFu asked Europeans “not to interpret too much the terminology” of the agreement signed by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, just weeks before the invasion of Ukraine, which called for a ” unlimited cooperation.”
Asks the EU to ratify the Comprehensive Investment Agreement
The ambassador regretted that the agreement continues to be pointed to to accuse China of being “on the wrong side” despite the fact that “the facts show that China is not offering military aid to Russia” and that, the day following the start of the invasion, Xi called Putin “to clearly encourage trying to find a peaceful solution”.
“Our position has been quite balanced (…) and we are willing to participate in any peaceful initiative,” he added.
In the interview, Fu also accused the UE to promote trade measures “that border on protectionism or directly discrimination” and urged Brussels to ratify the Comprehensive Investment Agreement (CAI) that ran aground last year as a result of an exchange of sanctions on account of alleged rights abuses humans in the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang.
“If the Europeans are so concerned regarding their access to the market in China, why don’t they ratify the CAI?”, he said before advancing that Beijing is willing to withdraw the sanctions – which affected, among others, several MEPs – if Brussels raises theirs, imposed on various high-ranking officials in the region, “simultaneously.”
(EFE)
