**Tokyo and New Delhi become the EU’s Asian destinations of choice because Beijing is so closely linked to Moscow.**
While China doubles down on its strategic partnership with Russia, Europe is looking for allies elsewhere in Asia.
Next week, European Council President Charles Michel and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are expected to travel to Tokyo to co-host an EU-Japan summit, two diplomats said on condition of anonymity, confirming a Japanese media report. This will be the first time the duo has flown to East Asia together since they took the helm of the EU shortly before the COVID-19 outbreak.
Last week, Olaf Scholz made his first trip to Asia since becoming German chancellor and skipped China, heading instead to Japan, a departure from his predecessor Angela Merkel’s preference for cultivating personal ties with the Communist leadership in Beijing.
Days before, von der Leyen attended the Raisina Dialogue, a key foreign policy event in India, where she made explicit warnings about the “no limits” partnership between Beijing and Moscow.
The upcoming Czech presidency of the Council of the EU, which starts in June, plans to host a series of events with Indo-Pacific partners, even as the Russian war on Ukraine takes up most of the political energy in Europe.
In short, an unexpected war on European soil is prompting the bloc to take a fresher look at China — which happens to be Russia’s seemingly unbreakable partner.
For two decades, China reaped enormous benefits after joining the World Trade Organization. Numerous European multinational corporations treat China as the market and profit engine. Despite recent calls from President Xi Jinping to focus more on domestic innovation and consumption, foreign trade — especially with the EU and the U.S. — still accounts for an outsize role in China’s economic development. Indeed, European governments had largely been on the side of their businesses that favored going deeper into the world’s second-largest economy, paying lip service to warnings about national security threats, cyberattacks, and human rights violations from the U.S. and advocacy groups.
Dont trade with China
No need to go to war
Wasn’t India buying a shitload of oil still?
Modi has pushed India into an autocracy. While I agree we should do more business with India, we should do so with great caution.
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**Tokyo and New Delhi become the EU’s Asian destinations of choice because Beijing is so closely linked to Moscow.**
While China doubles down on its strategic partnership with Russia, Europe is looking for allies elsewhere in Asia.
Next week, European Council President Charles Michel and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are expected to travel to Tokyo to co-host an EU-Japan summit, two diplomats said on condition of anonymity, confirming a Japanese media report. This will be the first time the duo has flown to East Asia together since they took the helm of the EU shortly before the COVID-19 outbreak.
Last week, Olaf Scholz made his first trip to Asia since becoming German chancellor and skipped China, heading instead to Japan, a departure from his predecessor Angela Merkel’s preference for cultivating personal ties with the Communist leadership in Beijing.
Days before, von der Leyen attended the Raisina Dialogue, a key foreign policy event in India, where she made explicit warnings about the “no limits” partnership between Beijing and Moscow.
The upcoming Czech presidency of the Council of the EU, which starts in June, plans to host a series of events with Indo-Pacific partners, even as the Russian war on Ukraine takes up most of the political energy in Europe.
In short, an unexpected war on European soil is prompting the bloc to take a fresher look at China — which happens to be Russia’s seemingly unbreakable partner.
For two decades, China reaped enormous benefits after joining the World Trade Organization. Numerous European multinational corporations treat China as the market and profit engine. Despite recent calls from President Xi Jinping to focus more on domestic innovation and consumption, foreign trade — especially with the EU and the U.S. — still accounts for an outsize role in China’s economic development. Indeed, European governments had largely been on the side of their businesses that favored going deeper into the world’s second-largest economy, paying lip service to warnings about national security threats, cyberattacks, and human rights violations from the U.S. and advocacy groups.
Dont trade with China
No need to go to war
Wasn’t India buying a shitload of oil still?
Modi has pushed India into an autocracy. While I agree we should do more business with India, we should do so with great caution.