European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen put forward the message of “leaving producers like China” at the recently concluded EU-Canada summit, clearly demonstrating the EU’s stance to get rid of its dependence on China in the industrial chain. Commentators say that in the global siege situation, China is described as the end of the line.
European Commission President von der Leyen, EU Council President Charles Michel and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau concluded a two-day EU-Canada leaders’ summit on Tuesday (15). Both sides issued harsh statements on China after the meeting.
In response, former 1989 academic movement leader Wuer Kaixi said in an interview with the station that “China’s good cards have been played” and that the next step is to face the joint confrontation and countermeasures of Western democracies.
China has completely ignored the rules of the world that it has built up over decades, especially after the epidemic, and has used its supply chain to blackmail the world on the Hong Kong issue and the Uighur issue, which is completely contrary to what it has done. Even the European Union, which used to be very hesitant on this issue, has already introduced a new policy towards China, and China’s good cards are played out, this time in an international siege.
Zhang Yu, a Swedish commentator and secretary-general of Independent Chinese PEN, said that in recent years the world has lowered its attention to China’s human rights under economic interests and condoned China’s human rights evils. With the alliance of democratic countries such as the EU, the US and Canada, there is a consensus to resist China’s expansion and human rights evils together.
Zhang Yu said: The diversification of economic and trade cooperation that Von der Leyen talked about is crucial, especially in recent years as countries around the world have become increasingly dependent on China for basic industrial production exports, raw material supplies and export markets to China, thus forcing them to pay less attention to the human rights situation in China, which is also becoming increasingly perverse at home and abroad. At the just concluded G7 and NATO summits, leaders expressed their solidarity to resist the threat of expansion of the Chinese authorities to the world and related human rights issues.
Zhang also highlighted the detention of Swedish Hong Kong bookseller Gui Minhai, former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor, as well as the arrest of Hong Kong’s Next Media founder Lai Chi-ying, and called on countries not to ignore human rights abuses.
Zhang Yu said: “At least two Canadian citizens have been imprisoned in China on trumped-up charges; Gui Minhai, a Swedish citizen of the European Union and a member of PEN, was kidnapped from Thailand to China nearly six years ago and imprisoned for heavy sentencing, and his whereabouts are still unknown; and China has arrested and sentenced many human rights activists in Hong Kong this year, including Apple Daily publisher Lai Chi-ying. I hope that the world will pay attention to and intervene with the Chinese authorities on the violation of universal human rights, while strengthening economic cooperation to resist China’s expansion.
Goran Lindblad, former vice president of Sweden to the Council of Europe, told the station that this is a clear statement from the EU after the G7 summit (G7) and NATO’s saber-rattling against China. Von der Leyen’s proposal to de-Chinafication on trade and commerce is not only a signal of economic transformation, but also a signal of political value alliance with democratic countries to form a collective countermeasure against China.
Speaking at a press conference on trade cooperation after the European-Canadian summit on Tuesday, von der Leyen said: “We agreed to build a strategic partnership on raw materials. As Europeans, we want to diversify our imports and leave producers like China.
She further stressed that both sides seek more sustainability, less environmental damage and transparency in labor conditions.
The Canadian Prime Minister’s Office also issued an official statement indicating that the European and Canadian leaders announced a new strategic raw materials partnership to secure the supply chain for key minerals and rare metals.
In addition, the G7 summit was followed by a NATO summit in Belgium on Monday, which also listed China as a “systemic security threat” in a joint communiqué.
Recent Comments