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EU’s Borrell regrets China not using its influence to persuade Russia to cease hostilities

According to the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Beijing’s ambivalent position since the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis had been difficult to understand in Europe

HONG KONG, October 13. /TASS/. The European Union feels that Beijing is not seeking to persuade Moscow to stop the Ukraine conflict, the bloc’s diplomacy chief Josep Borrell said in an article for Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post.

"Europeans have felt that China has not been using its unique influence to persuade Russia to halt this aggression," Borrell wrote. "We are not asking China to adopt the same standpoint as the EU. However, China cannot have it both ways," he added.

The security sphere is an important aspect of relations between Europe and China, Borrell said as he urged the EU to convey its "concerns to China in a frank way." What he said was Beijing’s ambivalent position since the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis had been difficult to understand in Europe, he lamented.

Borrell is visiting China on October 12-14. During his Chinese trip, he will take part in the 12th round of the China-Europe High-Level Strategic Dialogue. Borrell’s visit to China was postponed twice earlier this year. In April, the EU’s foreign policy chief tested positive for the COVID-19 and in the summer, he refrained from visiting China after the then Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang had disappeared from public space.