Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during a trip to Poland on Monday that European powers should join forces with his Communist dictatorship to “oppose the arbitrary tariffs” imposed by President Donald Trump because they “violate international trade rules and harm the legitimate interests of all countries.”
“In the face of unilateral bullying, compromise offers no way out, and acting as an accomplice will eventually harm one’s own interests,” Wang told his audience in Warsaw, the last stop in a tour that also included Austria and Slovenia.
“China attaches great importance to Poland’s role in Europe and consistently regards China-Poland relations as an important part of China-Europe ties,” Wang said after meeting with Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who also serves as foreign minister.
Wang said Poland, and the rest of Europe, should develop stronger ties with China to weather the “complex and turbulent” international situation created by Trump.
Wang found Sikorski to be a receptive audience for his criticism of Trump’s tariffs, which the Polish deputy prime minister said were a contravention of World Trade Organization rules that could weaken international supply chains.
RELATED: Trump Knows He Has All the Leverage with China
The Chinese foreign minister ran into trouble when he tried to peddle China’s usual claim to be deeply concerned about the Ukraine war, but unwilling to do anything meaningful to rein in its best friend Russia.
Sikorski reminded Wang of Russia’s many offenses and destabilizing actions during the Ukraine war, most recently including Russian drones flying through Polish airspace.
Sikorski reminded Wang that Moscow’s actions were unquestionably deliberate and he said Beijing could be doing a great deal more to end what China likes to call “the Ukrainian crisis.” He called on China to end its indirect support for Russia’s war and to use its leverage with Russia and Belarus to resolve threats to Poland’s border security.
Sikorski noted that China has a vested interest in Polish border security because China’s primary route for rail freight to Europe runs through Poland. Poland was obliged to close its border with Belarus last week due to threatening joint military drills between Belarus and Russia.
China would like to extend its rail network deeper into Europe through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Sikorski hinted those ambitions cannot be fulfilled unless China convinces Russia to halt the invasion of Ukraine.
The Polish minister complained that Russia and Belarus have “intensified” their “hybrid operation” again, after a few years of stability that were gained when former Polish president Andrzej Duda convinced Beijing to pressure Russia into behaving itself.
The “hybrid operation” he referred to was Russia and Belarus using migrants as a weapon to destabilize the Polish border.
Read the full article here