Charles Michel to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping tomorrow – Will ‘raise issues of human rights and fundamental freedoms’
The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, left on Tuesday night for Beijing, where tomorrow Thursday he will hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has been faced with protests of historic proportions against the restrictive measures to prevent the spread of the pandemic of the new coronavirus and for more freedoms.
“Charles Michel was invited by President Xi. “When the Chinese president invites you, do you say no?” asked a European official, responding to criticism of Mr Michel’s trip, which some described as “unfortunate”.
China’s “zero COVID” policy, with its draconian restrictive measures, has sparked major protests in Chinese cities in recent days. For observers in the West, it is the biggest movement of dissent in the country since pro-democracy protests that were brutally suppressed in 1989. China’s key security body claimed on Tuesday that “enemy forces” were being cracked down on.
The president of the European Council, the institution that represents EU member states, arrives in the Chinese capital today ahead of meetings on Thursday with President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and the chairman of China’s National Assembly Standing Committee, Wu Bangguo .
His visit, shortly after the one made in Beijing by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in early November, continues the “strategic dialogue on China” between heads of state and government of the European Union at the October summit, the European official explained. .
Charles Michel, on “order” from the 27, responded “to the personal invitation extended to him by President Xi” at the recent G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, he explained.
He will “defend the interests of the EU” during the talks, “raise issues of human rights and fundamental freedoms” and “intend to have a frank dialogue” with Xi Jinping, he added.
“The timing of this visit was very well chosen because of the economic and energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine,” argued the official, who said Mr. Michel “will urge President Xi to use his influence to to end Russia’s aggression’ and ‘will analyze the sanctions decided by the EU’. The response to the new coronavirus pandemic is also expected to be discussed.
The trip comes amid intense talks among Europeans on how to position themselves vis-à-vis China, amid escalating tensions between Beijing and Washington and as the EU seeks to reduce its huge current account deficit with the Asian giant.
The EU simultaneously considers China a “partner”, an “economic competitor” and a “systemic adversary”, a formulation adopted in 2019.
Bilateral relations have soured since the 27 adopted sanctions in 2021 following allegations of human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
Charles Michel is asked to synthesize the positions of countries such as Germany, which has great economic interests in China, on the one hand, and countries such as Lithuania, which caused anger in Beijing because it accepted a delegation from Taiwan, on the other.
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