The EU would sanction China if it invades Taiwan, a point it must push to deter Beijing from using force, European People’s Party Chairman Manfred Weber said in an interview published yesterday.
Speaking with the German-language magazine Der Spiegel, Weber also said that French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent comments about China were a “disaster” and “weakened the EU.”
While returning from a three-day trip to China on April 9, Macron told reporters that “the worst thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and adapt ourselves to an American rhythm and a Chinese overreaction.”
Photo: Screen grab from Manfred Weber’s Twitter account
Many middle and eastern European countries that see Berlin and Paris as untrustworthy are turning toward Washington, Weber said.
Only by closely coordinating with the US can the EU’s China policy be successful, he said, adding that the EU cannot, militarily or politically, compete with China on its own.
The leaders of Russia and China only understand the language of force, and in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, the EU must be prepared to implement large-scale sanctions against Beijing, he said.
Making China aware of this sooner rather than later is the best way to prevent a conflict across the Taiwan Strait, he added.
Regarding whether the EU, which is heavily reliant on China economically, would hesitate to implement sanctions, Weber said that previous claims that it would not take a firm response toward Moscow because it was overly dependent on Russian gas were proven false.
The EU should diversify outside of China in light of cooling relations with Beijing, and the bloc should look toward establishing free-trade zones with countries such as Australia, Brazil or India, or nations in Southeast Asia, he said.
He also condemned Chinese military exercises near Taiwan.
“It is up to the Taiwanese people to determine their future, not Beijing,” he said.
In other developments, the Dutch House of Representatives on Thursday passed a pro-Taiwan motion 134 to 14.
It urged the Dutch government to advocate for the EU, the US and other allies in the West to establish a consensus on the issue of Chinese oppression of Taiwan that would facilitate joint action to effectively decrease tensions in the Strait and maintain the “status quo.”
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it welcomed the motion and wished to thank the Netherlands for its support.
Spearheaded by Ruben Brekelmans of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, Sjoerd Sjoerdsma of the D66 party and Tom van der Lee of the GroenLinks party, the motion says that Western countries must deter Chinese oppression of Taiwan due to the nation’s leading role in the semiconductor industry, and the Taiwan Strait’s importance to international shipping lanes.
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