China “must” intervene to mediate between Russia and Ukraine, given the inability of the United States and European allies to stop the fighting, according to a senior European Union official.
“There is no alternative,” European Union High Representative Josep Borrell, a former Spanish politician who now leads the bloc’s diplomatic corps, told El Mundo, a Spanish media outlet. “We cannot be the mediators. It’s obvious. … And it cannot be the U.S. It must be China. And I trust that.”
TOP US DIPLOMAT HUDDLES WITH UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ON BORDER
Such a proposal would require a significant shift in China’s approach to the conflict. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion weeks after unveiling a communique with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin that declared their joint intention to bring about the “transformation of the global governance architecture and world order.” And China is involved in an intense political dispute with Lithuania, one of the NATO allies working most closely with Ukraine to counter Russian aggression.
“Diplomacy must also continue,” Borrell told El Mundo. “But the diplomacy cannot only be from the EU and the U.S. Here is where Chinese diplomacy has a role to play.”
Such a proposal would entail an unprecedented display of Chinese influence in Europe, where the United States has played the traditional role of security guarantor, at a time when U.S. and Chinese relations are characterized by intense geopolitical competition. The outcome could depend in no small part on European policy choices.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s team nevertheless called for China “to use its influence with Moscow to urge diplomacy” in the weeks prior to the invasion.” One prominent Republican policymaker suggested China could play a salutary role now that the war has begun.
“I’d be for anything that would end the slaughter,” Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee for Europe, told the Washington Examiner on Saturday. “I think [Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky] would be for anything that would end the slaughter. … There was obviously concern about China and Russia moving closer together. But now, we’re in the middle of a war with atrocities being committed, and we want to end this.”
The value of ending the bloodshed, Johnson suggested, trumps the antecedent trans-Atlantic concerns about Chinese influence in Europe.
“I’m not going to try to play a three-dimensional chess game here in terms of ‘well, if this person intervenes here and stops the atrocities, this could result in that,’” Johnson said. “At this point, I would like the slaughter to end. And if China could help, I would welcome that, and I would hope everybody would.”
Borrell floated that idea moments after citing China’s dispute with Lithuania as an example of countries using nonmilitary power to achieve political goals. Chinese communist officials have retaliated against Lithuania’s decision to enhance relations with Taiwan, which the mainland regime regards as a renegade province that must be brought under Beijing’s control, by forcing European companies that do business with both Lithuanian and Chinese companies to cancel their contracts with Lithuanian businesses.
One senior member of the European Parliament denounced that tactic as an attempt to “break the principles that are governing that common European project.” Borrell cited it as an example of the kind of “coercive power” that Western allies are trying to bring to bear upon Russia.
“The only scenario for us to manage is to punish Russia economically and those responsible there, also the oligarchs who support Putin, and to support the Ukrainian resistance,” Borrell said. “We need to be able to implement strong limits and punish Russia with measures that were not even on the agenda a week ago. We also need to help Ukraine step up to negotiations for a ceasefire.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Borrell framed his idea as an informal musing, as he acknowledged that “we haven’t asked” for China’s diplomatic intervention, and Beijing hasn’t volunteered.
