Politics

Xi speaks with Merkel, urges EU to act ‘independently’

Beijing, Apr 7 (efe-epa).- Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the European Union act independently and achieve strategic autonomy in its judgment, during a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday.

Xi underlined that China’s development has been an opportunity for the EU and urged it to make “correct judgment independently and truly achieve strategic autonomy,” according to Chinese state-owned Xinhua agency.

Moreover, he called for joint efforts to protect and promote “the healthy and stable development” of their cooperation, so as to bring more “certainty and stability to the volatile world.”

Xi’s call comes at a delicate moment in bilateral relations between the EU and the Asian giant, after the former sanctioned four Chinese officials and one Chinese entity on Mar.22 for alleged human rights violations in the Uyghur region of Xinjiang province.

These were the first sanctions by the EU on China since the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.

Beijing responded by sanctioning 10 Europeans, half of them MEPs, and four entities, and summoning the EU Ambassador to China, Nicolas Chapuis, to file a formal complaint about the sanctions by Brussels.

Speaking with Merkel, Xi recalled that both have had talks on numerous occasions over the past year, which has played a key role in the development of China’s relations with Germany and the EU.

“Enhancing China-Germany and China-EU cooperation could produce major results with significance,” Xi said, according to Xinhua.

He also underlined that relations between Beijing and Brussels faced new opportunities and challenges and that it was important to “respect each other and remove distractions”.

Xi said China was “ready to work with the EU to ensure the success of a series of important political agendas for the next stage through consultation, deepen and expand practical cooperation.”

In this regard, he stressed on strengthening communication on climate change and other global governance issues, and jointly practicing multilateralism. EFE-EPA

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