EU-China summit: cooperation on Ukraine but Beijing won’t commit to pressing Russia
- ‘We exchanged very clearly opposing views,’ European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says
- President Xi Jinping says China ‘supports the EU playing a leading role’ in talks, and also supports dialogue ‘between Europe, Russia, the United States and Nato’
In their first summit in almost two years, EU and Chinese leaders agreed on Friday to cooperate in trying to resolve Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, even if, as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen put it, they held “clearly opposing views” on the conflict.
However, the European Union did not secure any firm commitment from Beijing to use its influence on Russia to stop the assault – a stated aim heading into the meeting.
At a news conference in Brussels following the virtual session, von der Leyen said that “we exchanged very clearly opposing views. This is not a conflict. This is a war. This is not a European affair. This is a global affair.”
She added that “we made very clear that China should, if not support, at least not interfere with our sanctions” of Russia “and that equidistance is not enough; that active engagement for peace is important and that each player should play its role.
“And therefore this exchange of views was of utmost importance.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to a Chinese government account of the meeting, said that “China supports the EU’s efforts to resolve the Ukraine issue politically, adding that Beijing would work with Europe “to jointly prevent a larger-scale humanitarian crisis”.