One country’s security cannot be ensured at the cost of others, Chinese President Xi Jinping told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday, as he urged Europe to help mediate conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.
“A fundamental resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the Ukraine crisis requires profound reflection on security issues … and a push for a balanced, effective and sustained security framework,” Xi said in the video conference, according to state news agency Xinhua.
“Squeezing the security space of other countries, supporting one side while ignoring the legitimate demands of the other side will only lead to regional imbalance and escalation of conflicts.
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“China and Europe should devote [effort] to mediate conflicts and ease tensions.”
He also noted that big international risks such as the sluggish economic recovery and the revival of a cold-war mentality made it necessary for China and Germany to jointly defend global order and multilateralism.
The talks follow a series of dialogues between senior officials in China and Europe in recent weeks to improve engagement and address global challenges.
They also come as the Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Gaza war rises, with 9,016 dead and more than 32,000 people wounded, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Thursday.
China, which assumed the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council this month, will promote resolutions as soon as possible to “defend the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people” and ease the crisis.
That was the commitment Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi gave his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud in a phone call on Friday.
Wang also said Beijing was ready to increase exchanges and coordination with Riyadh and other countries to promote “more authoritative” international conferences to reach new consensus for the two-state solution to resolve the conflict.
During the talks on Friday, Xi called on Germany to play a role in maintaining healthy China-Europe relations.
China’s relations with the European Union have improved but Brussels has continued its de-risking push to reduce reliance on the Chinese market. It also launched anti-subsidy investigations into Chinese exports of electric vehicles and is considering more trade investigations into Chinese products.
“Sino-European relations have a bearing on the stability of the world and the prosperity of the Asian and European continents, and deserve to be maintained and developed with all efforts by both sides,” Xi said.
“China regards Europe as a comprehensive strategic partner and an important pole in multipolarity. We hope that Germany will push the EU to uphold the principles of marketisation and fairness, and work with China to safeguard fair market competition and free trade and ensure global industrial and supply chains.”
He also said both countries could hold their first dialogue on climate change and green transformation “as soon as possible” and deepen cooperation on environmental protection and biodiversity.
Xi also played up the market potential of the world’s second largest-economy, saying it offered big opportunities for German companies. In return, Berlin should allow “high-level” market access to Chinese investment there, he said.
Last year, trade volume between China and Germany increased by a surprising 21 per cent year on year to €191 billion (US$214.5 billion). The value of Germany’s imports from China increased by around 30 per cent, but the value of its exports to China rose by only 3.1 per cent.
Berlin has yet to release a statement about the video call.
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP’s Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2023 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Source : Yahoo