Ukraine war: West is unfair for making Beijing responsible for resolving conflict, senior Chinese envoy says

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Beijing’s special representative and former UN deputy secretary general Wu Hongbo applauds EU commitment to ‘strategic independence’

‘Those who complain about China’s overcapacity are not concerned about China’s production capacity, but rather their own market share,’ he says

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“A world of turbulence and change requires Europe to strengthen its strategic autonomy,” Beijing envoy and former UN deputy secretary general Wu Hongbo says. Photo: Weibo

Cyril Ip

Published: 3:02pm, 31 May 2024Updated: 5:45pm, 31 May 2024

China’s envoy for European affairs, in defending robust Sino-Russian ties, said it was “unfair” for the West to make his country responsible for resolving the Ukraine war, which was neither fuelled nor exploited by Beijing.

In an interview with The Paper, a state-owned news outlet in Shanghai, Beijing’s special representative and former United Nations deputy secretary general Wu Hongbo criticised protectionism, while lauding the European Union’s commitment to “strategic independence” amid pressure to pick sides.

“China’s relations with the European Union and its member states are compatible, and [both sides] can develop in a balanced way and promote each other,” Wu said in the question and answer interview published on Thursday morning.

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Wu said the bloc’s autonomy could be seen through its insistence and strong desire to advance ties with China “without targeting, relying on or being controlled by a third party”, adding that the “vast majority” of European states valued China.

“A world of turbulence and change requires Europe to strengthen its strategic autonomy,” Wu said.

France and Germany’s opposition to the “illegal invasion” of Iraq in 2003, as well as Spain, Ireland and (non-EU member) Norway’s recent recognition of a Palestinian state, were “manifestations” of the continent’s strategic independence, Wu said in a seeming jab at the United States.

Following the “China responsibility theory” – which would demand Beijing act in accordance with Western expectations over the Ukraine war – would affect the “stable development” of China-EU relations, Wu said.

“China is not the creator or party to the Ukraine crisis. It has not added fuel to the fire or taken advantage of the situation,” he said. “It is unfair to place the responsibility of resolving the crisis on China.”