EU disputes China claim that it supports Beijing's proposal to end Ukraine war
Brussels sources have pushed back against China's claims that the EU's top diplomat "attaches great importance" to a Sino-Brazilian statement on ending the war in Ukraine, stating he did not say such a thing.
Josep Borrell met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the margins of an Asean summit in Laos on Friday.
A foreign ministry statement released shortly afterwards said: "The EU attaches importance to the peace initiatives of China and Brazil on the political solution of the Ukrainian crisis."
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Senior EU sources said Borrell did not use those words. A statement from the bloc's External Action Service later in the day tried to correct the record.
EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell (centre) attends the 57th Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers' meeting in Vientiane, Laos, on Saturday. Photo: AFP alt=EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell (centre) attends the 57th Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers' meeting in Vientiane, Laos, on Saturday. Photo: AFP>
"Josep Borrell asked China to use its influence on Russia to contribute to ending the war," said the statement, which was published in both English and Chinese.
"He asked China to support the Ukrainian peace process and believed that the joint statement between China and Brazil in May 2024 did not move in this direction," it added.
The behind-the-scenes pushback highlights the sensitivity of the issue: while Brussels continues to ask for Beijing's help in ending the war, launched by a Russian military invasion in February 2022, it fears China is moving ever closer to Moscow.
"Josep Borrell outlined the EU's characterisation of Russia's war on Ukraine as an existential threat to all of Europe and expressed concern about China's massive exports of dual-use goods and items to support Russian military hardware," Brussels' account said.
While discrepancies in diplomatic records are common, they are rarely egregious enough to cause major outcry. In Europe, the Chinese foreign ministry is widely seen to publish its statements quickly to help steer the narrative.
Some governments have tried to counter this. For example, a concerted effort emerged last year when touring Eurasian affairs diplomat Li Hui visited Warsaw to push the Polish version out first, so that journalists would not rely on Beijing's take of events to guide their stories.
Rescuers and volunteers clean up the rubble and search for victims after a Russian missile hit the country's main children hospital Okhmatdyt in Kyiv, Ukraine, on July 8, 2024. Photo: AP alt=Rescuers and volunteers clean up the rubble and search for victims after a Russian missile hit the country's main children hospital Okhmatdyt in Kyiv, Ukraine, on July 8, 2024. Photo: AP>
In the latest instance, China's foreign ministry has hit an especially sensitive European nerve. Beijing claims it is neutral in the war, but is broadly seen in the West to have sided with Russia in the first major armed conflict on European soil in a generation.
Shipments of dual-use items to Russia have escalated in recent months, various research papers have shown, while both Kyiv and Brussels accused Beijing of trying to "sabotage" a Ukraine-backed peace summit in Geneva last month.
In the run-up to the summit, the Chinese foreign ministry was phoning embassies in Beijing to promote an alternative Sino-Brazilian proposal.
That plan would see Russia's security claims represented, Moscow given a seat at the table and "fair discussion of all peace plans", EU sources said.
Europeans, meanwhile, have backed Ukraine to the hilt rhetorically, diplomatically and financially.
A senior EU official said the read-out of last week's bilateral summit was the "most serious effort" they had noticed in Beijing's attempt to set the narrative.
A second diplomatic source accused the Chinese foreign ministry of trying to "put words in Europe's mouths".
The development comes as China's point man on Ukraine, Li Hui, embarks on his latest shuttle diplomacy aimed at pitching the country as a mediator in a war that has run well into its third year.
On this trip, Li will visit Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia "to further exchange views with members of the Global South and accumulate conditions for restoring peace talks", according to Wang Lutong, the foreign ministry's top Europe official, who posted on X, formerly Twitter.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba visited China last week for talks with Wang, as well as Guangdong provincial officials, before a meeting with Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu.
"I am convinced that a just peace in Ukraine is in China's strategic interests and China's role as a global force for peace is important," Kuleba told Wang, according to Kyiv's version of the meeting, which said he also briefed the veteran Chinese diplomat on the Swiss peace talks.
In Beijing's official statement, Kuleba "attaches importance to China's opinions and has carefully studied the 'six-point consensus' reached by China and Brazil on the political solution to the Ukrainian crisis".
"Ukraine is willing and ready to engage in dialogue and negotiations with Russia," read China's account. "Of course, the negotiations should be rational and substantive, aiming to achieve a just and lasting peace."
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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