The Communist Party of China (CPC) was humiliated by the absence of six heads of state at the 17+1 summit between China and Central and Eastern Europe hosted by Xi Jinping. According to foreign media reports, the day before the meeting began, the Chinese Communist Party was pressuring the countries to make their heads show up so that it could save face, but to no avail.
The 17+1 summit was a major diplomatic setback for Xi, as six Eastern European NATO members, including Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, sent lower-ranking officials to the meeting, the Free Times reported today (Feb. 11), citing a report in POLITICO.
A diplomat from one of the six countries was quoted as saying that the day before the summit, the Chinese Communist Party was pressuring those countries to send higher-level representatives, with the diplomat saying, “The Chinese think we are not giving them face.
A report in today’s edition of Agence France-Presse also revealed the Chinese Communist Party’s behind-the-scenes pressure, saying that in order to make Xi Jinping look good, Beijing authorities made a point of summoning the ambassadors to China of countries whose heads were not attending the summit over the weekend, saying that the president or prime minister himself could not attend and that the Chinese wanted a pre-recorded video to be used instead.
“The Chinese put enormous pressure on us,” one diplomat said, but they held up.
Originally Slovak Prime Minister Vladimir Matovic also refused to attend, saying in an exclusive interview with French newspaper Le Monde in early February that he would rather negotiate with the EU alongside the Chinese (communist) countries than bring division to the EU.
But images of Matovic himself showed up at a video conference on February 9. Citing sources close to the Slovak prime minister’s office, RFE/RL said that Beijing “discouraged” Slovakia from ruining its future! Perhaps Slovakia will one day need Chinese vaccines, the newspaper said.
According to the report, Lithuania and Estonia were the first to say that the president and prime minister were unable to attend the meeting and could only be replaced by ministers, and soon afterwards Latvia refused to attend. Citing sources close to the Elysee Palace, Le Monde said that the three Baltic states agreed to take this position in Paris at the end of January, when the three foreign ministers visited the city.
Estonia’s foreign minister said participation in the EU-27 mechanism was better than 17+1, while Lithuanian President Nauceda stressed that European-Chinese relations should be based on human rights and democratic values.
While the 17+1 summit was reported to have received a lukewarm reception, the Chinese Communist Party’s official media continued to play up its “achievements,” with Xinhua reporting on it as “drawing a blueprint to lead the future” and the French broadcaster describing it as “self-satisfied.
Xi Jinping said at the opening ceremony, “We believe that ’17+1 is greater than 18. ……” Le Monde said sarcastically, so one could argue that “17-6 is less than 11.”
The newspaper pointed out that 17+1 was seen by the EU from the beginning as a mechanism to try to divide Europe, coupled with the Chinese Communist Party’s failure to deliver on investment promises and trade disproportionately benefiting Beijing, all of which disappointed member states, and the image of the Chinese (Communist) state became even bleaker after the outbreak of the Communist virus (Wuhan pneumonia).
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