(Reuters) – European Union foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell said it would be hard for Europe to trust China if it did not try to find a political solution to the Ukraine crisis.
The comment was contained in a speech that Borrell had been due to deliver to a think tank in Beijing on Friday, but he had to cancel his trip to China after catching COVID-19 and the prepared remarks were published on the EU’s website.
“It will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the European Union to maintain a relationship of trust with China, which I would like to see, if China does not contribute to the search for a political solution based on Russia’s withdrawal from the Ukrainian territory,” Borrell said.
“Neutrality in the face of the violation of international law is not credible,” Borrell said, adding an appeal for Chinese President Xi Jinping to speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and for China to provide more humanitarian aid to the Ukrainian people.
Xi has met Russian President Vladimir Putin twice but not spoken with Zelenskiy since Russia invaded Ukraine in what Moscow calls a “special military operation” in February 2022.
China stated its opposition to attacks on civilians and on nuclear facilities in position paper on Ukraine published in February, but it has refrained from openly criticising Russia for its actions in Ukraine.
(Reporting by Yew Lun Tian in Beijing; Editing by Clarence Fernandez & Simon Cameron-Moore)
