On April 21, 2023, Cui Tiankai, former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Communist Party of China and former ambassador to the United States, participated in the “Chinese-style Modernization and the World” Lanting Forum in Shanghai. (HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images)
[The Epoch Times, June 3, 2023](Compiled and reported by Epoch Times reporter Lin Yan) Cui Tiankai, the former CCP ambassador to the United States, blamed Russia’s war against Ukraine on the European security framework – NATO, which was directly refuted by the Dutch Minister of Defense .
On Saturday (June 3), Cui Tiankai participated in a panel discussion as an informal adviser to the Chinese delegation at the Shangri-La Security Dialogue.
Cui Tiankai said at the event that Europe has done little to ensure the security of Eurasia, and suggested that participating countries turn around and learn from China (the CCP) and Asia.
Cui Tiankai was speaking next to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov.
Cui Tiankai strongly protested NATO’s expansion of influence in Asia. “We don’t need NATO in Asia,” he said. “We don’t want to see NATO’s role expand in our region.”
Ukraine’s defense minister did not directly criticize Beijing. Reznikov said Ukraine needed to win the war, not negotiate.
Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren immediately refuted Cui Tiankai’s claims in person.
What Ambassador Cui Tiankai was saying was that Europe had failed to manage security well because of the war in Ukraine, she said.
“The war in Ukraine is not the result of our mismanagement of the security situation in Europe. It is the result of (China and Russia) disrespecting our desire to manage the security situation in Europe,” Olongren said.
“I also think there is no lack of respect for China in Europe, or a lack of respect for Chinese culture; we both have a lot of respect for that,” she added.
Orongren, who has taken an increasingly harsh stance against Beijing on relations with Russia and technological advances in the military, said in an interview with European newspaper Politico after the panel discussion that Cui Tiankai’s rhetoric made sense. She was surprised.
She said Cui Tiankai’s view of the war situation in Ukraine was wrong.
“It’s very, very wrong,” she added. “You can’t blame Europe or European countries for Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.”
Ogren added that since Cui is no longer the ambassador, she will pay attention to the keynote speech by Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu on Sunday (4th) to see the official position of the Chinese Communist Party.
Responsible editor: Lin Yan#