The event on the world diplomatic arena last week clearly showed the rapprochement of the European Union with America, and the PRC with Russia, the confrontation between the parties is growing, said EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell.
“The Russian Federation and China seem to be joining forces to confront the ‘Western world’, the future geopolitical landscape of a multipolar world is not easy,” he writes in his blog, analyzing the meetings of NATO foreign ministers, the virtual EU summit, the exchange of sanctions between the West and China.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken took part in NATO meetings, and President Joe Biden joined EU leaders at the EU Online Summit. In the same week, talks were held in China between the foreign ministers of Russia and the PRC – Sergei Lavrov and Wang I. Both said they wanted to strengthen the technological independence of their countries and called on the West “to stop interfering in the sovereign internal affairs of other states.”
Borrell sees Beijing’s response to “restrictive measures” as part of the EU’s global sanctions for human rights violations disproportionate. The EU sanctions list, supported by other Western countries, includes four Chinese officials for oppressing the Uighurs in Xinjiang. In response, Beijing punished ten European parliamentarians and political scientists.
Google News!The EU foreign minister notes “tectonic shifts in a multipolar world” between China, Russia, the US and the EU. Moscow and Beijing use very similar language when talking about the West or the United States, he notes. However, they are driven by different motives, says Borrell. Economically, both of these countries want to reduce their dependence on the West, but they “are not in the same league, and of the two, China has a clear advantage,” he added.
“China needs oil and gas, which it imports, including from Russia,” Borrell writes. “Meanwhile, Moscow seeks to diversify its energy exports outside the EU, given our energy commitments and general tensions in our relations. it won’t be easy or fast given the huge infrastructure investment required to diversify. “
“Sino-Russian rapprochement is based, first of all, on the rejection of democratic values and opposition to what they consider” interference “in their internal affairs,” he said.
The rivalry between Washington and Beijing will not be a copy of the bipolar world of the Cold War, Borrell muses.
“Russia has never been an economic rival or the main trading partner of the West, while China today is the second economy in the world and a truly important trading partner for both the United States and the EU,” the high representative summed up.
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