EU foreign policy chief to visit China on April 13-15

By Omer Tugrul Cam

BRUSSELS (AA) – EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell will visit China on April 13-15.

Nabila Massrali, the spokesperson for foreign affairs, said on Tuesday that Josep Borrell will hold discussions about global and regional affairs, as well as EU-China relations.

EU intensified contact with China after EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron's three-day visit last week in Beijing.

At a news conference last week, Josep Borrell said that the EU must make China understand that its “position on Russia's atrocities and war crimes will determine the quality of our relations.”

“China has a moral duty to contribute to a fair peace and cannot be siding with the aggressor,” Borrell said.

Von der Leyen had urged the EU to rebalance its relationship with China prior to her visit.

China has avoided using the words "war" and "occupation" for the conflict that broke out in February last year and it also abstained in a UN Security Council vote about Russia's annexations of parts of Ukraine.

China was among the few countries that did not condemn Moscow.

On the anniversary of the war, China released a statement outlining Beijing's position on a political settlement to the war in Ukraine in 12 points that included respecting the sovereignty of all nations, ceasing hostilities, resuming peace talks, and resolving the humanitarian crisis in the region.

The plan also called for the safety of nuclear power plants, the facilitation of grain exports, and the cessation of unilateral sanctions, stressing that "dialogue and negotiation are the only viable solutions to the Ukraine crisis."

* Writing by Nur Asena Erturk in Ankara