In a bombshell op-ed on @lemondefr + @handelsblatt, ex German amb to China Volker Stanzel, MEP @bueti & China specialist @FGodement ask the EU to "adapt its one-China policy" regarding Taiwan, amid Beijing's shifting rhetoric towards military unification. handelsblatt.com/meinung/gastbe…
They ask EU to:
- engage in dialogue with all major political actors in Taiwan, including those holding the highest office
- advocate Taiwan's membership - or at least observer status - in WHO & other int'l orgs
- work internationally with partners from Taiwan in the global south
- enter into a dialogue on peace, security & stability w/ Taiwan
- reorganise critical supply chains to reduce reliance on China
- improve trade & econ relations with Taiwan
- support the establishment of a Taiwanese Mandarin satellite channel in Europe.
"Europe must adapt its one-China policy by making it clear to Beijing that respect for international rules and values is not an option," they say. "By continuing its one-China policy as before, Europe risks that Taiwan's citizens will be in the hands of the Communist Party"
The key, they say, lies not in recognising Taiwan's independence but status quo. "Europe's strategy cannot be revisionist. We support the status quo...Europe must insist that cross-strait relations respect Taiwan's right to exist and that any threats or use of force be excluded."
"Europe should make it clear to China that it would take serious risks if it decides to use force: It would risk an economic and political break with the democracies of Europe."
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#BREAKING Xi just named a new commander of the PLA Rocket Force, amid rumours of investigations into the very top of the key military unit in charge of ICBM deployment and Taiwan war planning.
The death of the deputy commander was recently announced 3 weeks after it happened.
And the top job falls to a sort-of outsider:
Wang Houbin, formerly deputy commander of the PLA Navy and chief of staff of the South China Sea fleet, has been picked to lead the rocket force.
In a highly unusual move, Xi also concurrently replaced the political commissar at the Rocket Force, which handles China’s expanding nuclear arsenal.
Xu Xisheng is moved from the Southern Theatre Command to be the CCP’s point man for political control over the scandal-hit unit.
"There has been a change of dynamic in the relationship between China and Russia. It is clear from the visit that China sees Putin’s weakness as a way to increase its leverage over Russia."
"It is clear that the power balance in that relationship – which for most of the last century favoured Russia – has now reversed."
"Most telling were President Xi’s parting words to Putin on the steps outside the Kremlin when he said: 'Right now there are changes, the likes of which we haven’t seen for 100 years. And we are the ones driving these changes together.'"
“Where trade is not fair, we must respond more robustly. China has made boosting clean-tech innovation and manufacturing a key priority in its five-year plan. It dominates global production in sectors like electric vehicles or solar panels, which are …
essential for the transition. But competition on net zero must be based on a level-playing field. China has been openly encouraging energy-intensive companies in Europe and elsewhere to relocate all or part of their production. They do so with the promise of cheap energy…
low labour costs and a more lenient regulatory environment. At the same time, China heavily subsidies its industry and restricts access to its market for EU companies. We will still need to work and trade with China – especially when it comes to this transition.
Finally got time to read Macron’s keynote speech to ambassadors last week. Key points 🇪🇺🇨🇳
- Rejects European “equidistance” between US and China. Recalls US as a democratic ally, while stressing the need to talk to China on climate
- Steers Europe away from US-China conflicts
Macron: “We are not ready to have a strategy of confrontation with China in the Indo-Pacific, where we have a strategy of preserving the freedom of sovereignty, the protection of our space – dare I say it also the protection of our maritime space and our nationals, our partners.”
Macron implies he won’t apply NATO to Asia:
“We have a military, diplomatic and climate strategy. But we are not in a confrontational logic and we do not consider that alliances which have been structured for certain oppositions should extend over the Indo-Pacific.”
#BREAKING: UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet's office calls China's treatment of the Uyghur minority as constituting "serious human rights violations" in a report issued just minutes before the end of her tenure.
The UN office says it is "reasonable to conclude that a pattern of large-scale arbitrary detention occurred" in Xinjiang, "at least during 2017 to 2019, affecting a significant proportion of the Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minority community."
The UN office says it lacks data to show how many people were imprisoned, but: "Cumulatively...these different sources of information support a conclusion that the system of VETC facilities was intended and operated on a wide scale spanning the geographic entirety of the region."