EU politician who called Modi 'nasty piece of work' known for praising China

India and the European Union agreed at a virtual summit on Saturday to resume free-trade negotiations. The meeting, which saw attendance by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and heads of government of the 27 EU member states, was noted for its oblique references to the growth of China.

"We agreed that, as the world's two largest democracies, the EU and India have a common interest in ensuring security, prosperity and sustainable development in a multi-polar world," Reuters quoted the joint statement as saying.

The virtual summit triggered speculation that the EU, like the US, was seeing India as a bulwark against China.

On Sunday, Mike Wallace, a left-wing member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Ireland, made clear his reservations about the EU courting India.

He tweeted, "#EU is prepared to use #India as Geopolitical tool against #China at #US bidding - says we've 'Shared Values' with India where #Modi wants to force dependency on hundreds of millions of farmers to benefit Billionaires, while China surpasses us in most index of Human Progress..."

Wallace shared a video of him speaking in the European Parliament on the issue. The video appeared to be from a debate in the European Parliament on April 28.

Wallace said in his video, "I too favour a strong relationship between the EU and India. But not as a geopolitical tool to challenge the rise of China in the region and the world... that's exactly what the Americans want to do when it comes to India. I would like to see the EU play a different role, an independent role and have a healthy relationship with India... we shouldn't pretend that we're going there and engaging with them because of shared values. The truth is that Modi if a far-rightwing racist. He's a nasty piece of work. But that doesn't stop us from actually engaging with India. Hopefully he (Modi) won't be there for ever."

Wallace then proceeded to criticise the notion India can be used as a "vehicle" to stop China "As If China was the baddie and India was the goodie is absolute nonsense". Wallace claimed, "The human rights record in India is much worse than it is in China: There is no comparison".

Wallace declared China had performed "miracles" in poverty alleviation and said if India and China were to be compared, "look at how both of them have dealt with COVID".

Wallace has praised China previously. Last week, he called on the European Union to cooperate with China, instead of being "led along by the nose by the Americans" into confrontation with Beijing.

"China is a normal country that has worked miracles for its people... China is a world leader on climate change mitigation strategies. China has had one of the best COVID strategies on Earth, at home and helping others. China is building all kinds of infrastructure and public services projects that we could only dream about here," Wallace was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency. He added China's progress came "while not invading, or bombing or sanctioning any countries to death".

In December, Wallace alleged the EU states were quick to accuse China and Iran of human rights violations,but would not debate “genocide” by the UAE and Saudi Arabia in the civil war in Yemen.