Beijing time:2021-09-04 10:11
[New Tang Dynasty News from September 4, 2021, Beijing time]From September 2 to 3, the EU foreign ministers held an informal meeting in Slovenia. During the discussion, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis called on European countries to reduce their dependence on the CCP and reassess the strategic relationship between the EU and the CCP.
The first day of the ministerial meeting focused on the issue of Afghanistan. The meeting on the second day mainly discussed Sino-European relations. The ministers agreed that unity and coordination among all EU member states is of vital importance to the CCP.
Among EU member states, Lithuania, which has a population of less than 3 million, is quite resolute in resisting the CCP. At the meeting on the 3rd, Landsbergis briefed his colleagues on the political, diplomatic, and public relations pressures that Beijing has recently exerted on the bilateral level.
“It is necessary to conduct a strategic assessment of the relationship with China (the Chinese Communist Party),” Landsbergis said. “If we act alone and abandon the EU-27 model, we will fail in many ways.”
Landsbergis emphasized that the “27+1” cooperation model, including the 27 EU member states, is the only possibility for an equal dialogue with Beijing. In May of this year, Lithuania stated that it would withdraw from the CCP-led “17+1” cooperation mechanism with Central and Eastern European countries, and said that this cooperation mechanism constitutes a “divisive” factor for the EU.
Landsbergis believes that EU member states should abandon the “divisive ’17+1′ model” and adopt a “more effective and more united ’27+1′ model” to unanimously deal with the CCP. The top Lithuanian diplomat emphasized that the EU must uphold its values and principles.
The Lithuanian Foreign Minister pointed out that the EU must strengthen its economic resilience, reduce its dependence on China’s trade, and, on the proposal of the European Commission, immediately pass EU anti-coercion regulations. At the same time, it calls on the EU to attach importance to cooperation with like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific region and other regions, and to strengthen cooperation with NATO on CCP policy issues.
After the meeting, Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign and security policy, said that the EU’s relations with the Chinese Communist Party are “in a complex period”, especially because of the Hong Kong and Xinjiang issues.
“The ministers insist that we need to take a pragmatic, realistic and consistent approach to China (the CCP), and we need unity and a sense of common responsibility.” Borelli said. In addition, he also emphasized that the EU must engage with the CCP on Afghanistan.
On the 3rd, before the recalled Lithuanian ambassador Diana Mickeviciene (Diana Mickeviciene) left Beijing, the diplomats of the European Union countries in China also showed solidarity. They met with her and released a group photo, and wished her soon return.
(Comprehensive report by reporter Li Zhaoxi/Editor in charge: Lin Qing)
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