“We are concerned about what lies behind China’s return to the world stage. Defining European strategy towards China, defining success in the current situation, must begin with a serious assessment of our current relations and China’s strategic intentions. Our relationship with China is far too important to be put at risk by failing to set the terms of our healthy engagements. It is clear that our relationship has become more distant and difficult in recent years. We have seen for some time a deliberate hardening of China’s strategic posture . And this was doubled by the intensification of incisive actions”, declared Ursula von der Leyen, in the speech delivered at the Mercator Institute on Chinese Studies, viewed by the MEDIAFAX agency.
Ursula von der Leyen recalled that Beijing maintains a “boundless friendship” with Russia. The visit to Moscow of the President of China, Xi Jinping, shows “clearly” that Beijing considers the “weaknesses” of the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, as “a way of intensifying its influence on Russia”, stressed Ursula von der Leyen.
(source: Mediafax)