China cannot act as a peace mediator over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as Beijing’s stance would rob Kyiv of its sovereignty, according to Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis.
(Bloomberg) — China cannot act as a peace mediator over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as Beijing’s stance would rob Kyiv of its sovereignty, according to Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis.
“We’ve already seen that they are aligning themselves, or they want Russia to align to their version of the global order,” Landsbergis told Bloomberg TV’s Maria Tadeo after a meeting of his NATO counterparts in Brussels. “And definitely in that world order, Ukraine is not able to maintain its full sovereignty.”
European leaders are trying to calibrate their relationship with China as it becomes an increasingly difficult interlocutor, partly given President Xi Jinping’s close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
French President Emmanuel Macron said earlier Wednesday that China can play a “major role” in Ukraine while adding that he opposes moves to decouple from the world’s second-biggest economy, as he pushes Europe to take a more moderate stance toward Beijing than the US is demanding.
Moments after Macron landed in China for a three-day visit, he made clear his strategy to appease tensions and find common ground with Beijing on several fronts, starting with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He suggested that China could use its close ties with Russia to push for peace.
China sees “Russia already as some sort of a satellite. And they currently do not have, but they’re planning to have, Russia exactly where they want it,” Landsbergis said. He rejected China’s proposals for an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine. “It’s not a peace plan. Definitely,” he said. “You cannot have full sovereignty of a country, and loss of territory.”
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Asked about European leaders flying into Beijing with business executives, Landsbergis replied: “Our consumers, people in Europe should not have to pay the price for decisions made during business trips to Beijing.” Macron’s group includes a delegation of executives from large and small French companies.
Despite pressure from the US for a tougher stance on China, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who is also visiting China this week, has urged the bloc to scale back the risks in dealing with Beijing rather than decouple completely in response to a new era of state security and control.
Landsbergis said Lithuania had chosen to decouple from China, but that he understood not all countries could do the same. He added: “De-risking cannot be business as usual.”
Putin’s announcement that he would station nuclear weapons in Belarus, just days after signing a declaration with Xi, amounts to a “slap in the face” to China, Landsbergis said in separate remarks.
He said the move amounted to Russia pushing back against China’s attempts to encroach on it as Beijing will soon have Moscow “where they want them — weak militarily, super weak economically, basically a bankrupt country with no allies whatsoever,” Landsbergis said.
–With assistance from Courtney McBride and Max Ramsay.
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