EU and China's first talks in 7 years end in clash over NATO and Ukraine
Photo: China told the European Parliament that NATO should not exist (europarl.europa.eu)
At a meeting in Brussels, Chinese deputies told members of the European Parliament that NATO should not exist and repeated Russian arguments regarding the war in Ukraine, Euractiv reports.
The three-hour meeting between the EU-China Parliamentary Delegation and members of the Chinese National People's Congress was the first of its kind in seven years and took place after Beijing's decision earlier this year to lift sanctions against current and former members of the European Parliament.
But instead of a diplomatic thaw, the meeting was tense and quarrelsome, marked by the Chinese side questioning the legitimacy of NATO. German MEP Engin Eroglu, who heads the delegation, said that during the meeting, the Chinese side questioned NATO's right to exist.
"During the meeting, the Chinese side has questioned NATO’s right to exist. I haven’t heard this stated publicly in this way before. From the Chinese perspective, there is no longer any reason for NATO to exist after the end of the USSR. I find this absurd in light of Russian aggressions against Ukraine and Eastern European countries," he said.
In turn, Slovak MEP Miriam Lexmann from the center-right movement noted that it was not even a dialogue.
"It wasn’t a dialogue. There was no attempt to answer our questions," she said.
Lexmann said she raised human rights issues, particularly in places such as Tibet, Xinjiang, home to the Uyghur Muslim minority, and Hong Kong, where China has faced criticism for suppressing cultural, religious, and political freedoms, but received no response.
She added that the Chinese side said they support Brussels in the fight against climate change, but accused the EU of siding with the US in Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.
Lexmann also said she was surprised by how much the Chinese repeated the Russian narrative about NATO's role in the war in Ukraine.
Foreign policy news
Recently, Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun made harsh comments about Taiwan at an international forum.
And yesterday, October 16, the head of the French delegation to the PACE, Bertrand Bouyx, spoke about the difference in views between the US and Europe on global threats.
