BRUSSELS: China\u2019s top diplomat warned his EU counterpart against \u201cconfrontation,\u201d his foreign ministry said Thursday, after she urged Beijing to stop undermining Europe\u2019s security.
\nMeeting Kaja Kallas in Brussels on Wednesday, Wang Yi said China and the European Union \u201cshould not be regarded as opponents because of differences, nor should they seek confrontation because of disagreements,\u201d according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement.
\nEurope is \u201cfacing various challenges,\u201d Wang said, but stressed that none were caused by China \u201cin the past, present or future.\u201d
\nAhead of their meeting, Kallas, the EU\u2019s foreign affairs chief, said China was \u201cnot our adversary, but on security our relationship is under increasing strain.\u201d
\nShe said Chinese firms were \u201cMoscow\u2019s lifeline to sustain its war against Ukraine\u201d and accused Beijing of carrying out cyberattacks, democratic interference and unfair trade practices that \u201charm European security and jobs.\u201d
\nChina has portrayed itself as a neutral party in Russia\u2019s more than three-year war with Ukraine. But Western governments say Beijing has given Moscow crucial economic and diplomatic support.
\n\u201cEnabling war in Europe while seeking closer ties with Europe is a contradiction Beijing must address,\u201d Kallas added on Wednesday.
\nWang, meanwhile, sought to cast Beijing as a steady counterweight against superpower rival Washington, which has threatened to slap sweeping tariffs on imports from European nations.
\n\u201cThe path taken by the United States should not be used as a reflection of China,\u201d he said. \u201cChina is not the United States.\u201d
\nBeijing\u2019s foreign ministry also said the two sides had discussed Ukraine, the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, and the Iran nuclear issue.
\nBeijing and Brussels should treat one another with \u201crespect,\u201d Wang said, adding that Europe should pursue a more \u201cactive and pragmatic\u201d China policy.
\nThe Chinese diplomat also met European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and his Belgian counterpart Maxime Prevot on Wednesday.
\nChina and the EU should \u201cuphold multilateralism and free trade… and work together to address global challenges such as climate change,\u201d Wang told von der Leyen.
\nWang will next travel to Germany, where he will hold talks with Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on diplomacy and security.
\nAnd in France, Wang will meet minister for Europe and foreign affairs Jean-Noel Barrot, who visited China in March.
\nThe visits come about three weeks ahead of a summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and the EU\u2019s top officials in Beijing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BRUSSELS: China\u2019s top diplomat warned his EU counterpart against \u201cconfrontation,\u201d his foreign ministry said Thursday, after she urged Beijing to stop undermining Europe\u2019s security. Meeting Kaja Kallas in Brussels on Wednesday, Wang Yi said China and the European Union \u201cshould not be regarded as opponents because of differences, nor should they seek confrontation because of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":83204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83193"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83203,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83193\/revisions\/83203"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}