How did we ever end up so stupid?
Read this and weep, and tell me what you see wrong with it…
European Union leaders have called on China to help end the war in Ukraine, after having what they called “frank” exchanges with their Chinese counterparts.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said the online meetings with the Chinese leadership, Prime Minister Li Keqiang and President Xi Jinping, had taken place in a very sober atmosphere.
“Today’s summit was certainly not business as usual,” she said, saying that as a permanent member of the Security Council China had “a very special responsibility”.
Speaking at a press conference alongside her, European Council president Charles Michel said:
We call on China to help end the war in Ukraine. China cannot turn a blind eye to Russia’s violation of international law
Von der Leyen said they had warned Chinese leaders not to help Russia evade western sanctions.
We also made very clear that China should, if not support, at least not interfere with our sanctions.
It would lead to major reputational damage to China here in Europe.
Everyday, she said, China and the European Union traded almost €2bn of goods and services, while Chinese-Russia trade was only €330m euros a day.
Michel added that the EU had raised concerns about human rights in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, as well as Beijing’s “discriminatory” trade dispute with EU member state Lithuania.
The pair sidestepped questions about whether they had received assurance from China not to help Russia. “We hope that our arguments have been heard by the Chinese,” Michel said.
The meeting with Xi appeared to last less than one hour, according to an EU official’s social media posts.
If you’re smart you should be able to see that not only will this not work but it’ll have exactly the opposite outcome, but if you’re dumb you’ll be in full agreement with the EU’s maneuvers!
