Josep Borrell, the new head of EU diplomacy, immediately demonstrated that the new broom is sweeping cleaner.
In Madrid, where the meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Europe and East Asia (ASEM Forum) took place, Borrel told the press that issues related to the observance of human rights in Hong Kong and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region are not an internal affair of China. The statement was made after a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, with whom Borrel shared EU concerns about the human rights situation in China.
As a diplomatic curtsy, however, he noted that he maintains "exceptional relations" with his Chinese counterpart and noted the need for "full respect for the countries" in relation to which there is such concern.
It is difficult to judge how exclusive the relationship of Joseph and Van is, and indeed the story that I am so short reminds me of “diplomacy without ties” that took place in the 1990s. Russia, for example, it did not help too much.
A more significant apparent sin against the principle of "good diplomacy does not increase the number of enemies." Meanwhile, Borrell’s demarche regarding Chinese internal affairs can be seen in Beijing as an act clearly unfriendly.
Not to mention the fact that the Hong Kong Maidan chaotic life in the city and greatly undermined its economy (and it was rather big) - so the EU’s desire to fit in with the freedom fighters produced a predictable reaction in the Chinese leadership - there are even more fundamental considerations that European diplomats should pay attention to.
China survived in the XIX century. the opium wars unleashed by the Europeans, then the actual colonization of the coastal part of the country (European settlements in Shanghai and other cities), which put the state on the brink of losing sovereignty. The result was a sharp return. Established in the 1940s. XX century Mao Zedong's regime most actively used these old grievances. The memory of those times when the European powers themselves determined what to consider China's internal affairs and what not to consider, and hitherto forms the Chinese worldview - “never again”. People in the East are generally vindictive, and external politeness should not give rise to self-confidence.
Immediately Borrelem - and in his person the whole EU diplomacy - was revealed truly hippo grace.
For no particular urgent reason, the Chinese stepped on a very sensitive callus.
It seems that the problems with Moscow, the headache with Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East and North Africa, that is, in the underbelly of the EU, and finally relations with the UK, which will soon become foreign again and bring a lot of amenities to Brussels, are not there is cause for alarm. There was no trouble for the woman, so she bought a piglet, deciding to get into Chinese affairs.
Moreover, when the United States promotes democracy around the globe (now, however, less - and they are tired), they at least have sensitive means for this. Fleets, aircraft carriers, a trillion military budget, Fed printing press, etc. The EU does not have such an excess potential that gives rise to the illusion "I am democratizing everyone." Quarreling with China is the best illustration of the saying "courage and dementia."
In part, there may be the personal qualities of Borrel, who had previously loved to blur something out of the blue. In the spring of this year, he declared: "Our old enemy, Russia, again says:" I am here. " And again it is a threat. " Since he said this as the head of the Spanish Foreign Ministry, it was not only non-diplomatic, but even non-factual: the world first learned from him about the ancient enmity of Russia and Spain. Probably, in the future he will delight everyone with statements made in an ignorant and contradictory manner.
But, by the way, he has like-minded people in the EU structures. 45 MEPs called for "governments to vote for Magnitsky’s European Act." “We urge the honor of Magnitsky’s name and the fight against impunity throughout the world,” they said.
In fact, the opinion of 6% of the members (in total in the EP 751 chair) is not the most influential meeting - this is not a reason to take the most decisive actions. But Borrell reasoned differently, immediately announcing that "the EU will begin preparing a global sanctions regime similar to the Magnitsky Act in order to respond to serious human rights violations." And he decided, not to be trifled, to start right away from China.
In early November, French President Macron announced that NATO was experiencing a "brain death." A serious illness appeared to be contagious. Judging by the speeches of the EU High Representative for International Affairs Borrel, problems with the EU brain life are also observed.
The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.