The European Union warned China of ‘negative consequences’ with relation to trade if the nations go ahead with the national security law that Hong Kongers have been dreading.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council chief Charles Michel have made it clear to China’s top leaders of their “grave concern” over the new law. Critics feel imposition of this new law will curb the financial hub’s autonomy and freedoms.
Both von der Leyen and Michel spoke to Chinese PM Li Keqiang and President Xi Jinping, and after the call, both the EU officials said that China had spread disinformation about the coronavirus.
“The relationship between the EU and China is simultaneously one of the most strategically important and one of the most challenging that we have,” von der Leyen was quoted as saying in a Reuters report.
Michel said China was not reciprocating the welcome that Chinese companies receive in Europe.
Both Michel and von der Leyen expressed concern to both Xi and Li their concerns Beijing’s plan to impose the security laws over Hong Kong, despite businessmen, democrats and other activists opposing it.
Beijing, however, showed no signs of backing down on the law and said that enacting it was necessary to maintain order. China’s foreign ministry said that the enactment of the law was a ‘domestic affair’.
Von der Leyen said that both her and Michel made it clear that the national security law was in violations of Beijing’s international commitments and that it undermined the ‘one country, two systems’ treaty it signed when it took Hong Kong over from the British.
Von der Leyen, while calling China a partner and a rival, said that Beijing had failed to follow up on a 2019 deal to allow greater access for European companies in China or drop rules requiring investors to share their know-how in Chinese joint ventures.
Wang Lutong, the head of the Chinese foreign ministry’s Europe office commented on von der Leyen’s statement that tangible progress has been made on areas like green financing and government procurement, and that patience was needed.
Von der Leyen said, “We also conveyed that China risks very negative consequences if it goes forward with imposing this law.”
China’s parliament reacted angrily on Saturday to a resolution by the EU assembly protesting against the security law.
The EU’s efforts to stand up to Xi’s increasingly assertive China have been so far stymied by a lack of unity among its 27 member states.
In the state-run news agency Xinhua, Xi Jinping had said that EU and China should become a “dual engine of the world economy” to reinstate world economy post the pandemic.
