Analysis: China-Russia Military Ties Could Strain EU Relations
Speaking with TaiwanPlus, Matej Šimalčík, Executive Director of the Central European Institute of Asian Studies, says the revelation of China training Russian soldiers is likely to strengthen calls within Europe for a tougher political stance on China.
China-Russia Military Training
REPORTER:
This new revelation that China has been training Russian soldiers, which were later deployed to the Ukrainian frontlines, adds to the growing list of issues over which EU and its member states have problems with Chinese activities. This will be particularly worrisome for those members of the EU that are located on the eastern side of it, especially the Baltic states and Poland, which already since the very beginning of the Russian aggression have been signaling to China that their relationship with China is going to be impacted if China continues to support Russia.
REPORTER:
Many EU member states are already calling for taking a tougher stance of China with regards to the trade issues. We can expect that there will also be calls for a stronger political stance on China. We can expect also a new wave of sanctions on Chinese companies and other actors that are involved in this training.
REPORTER:
To some extent they are connected already, the growing closeness between China and Russia has been motivating some of the European countries, like Estonia and Latvia, to break some of their ties with China because they would find China's support for Russia not just detrimental to Ukraine's security, but to their own security.
REPORTER:
It is a bit of a mixed picture on this. For some states, this is very clearly linked. Some of the others are trying to delink these issues with one goal in mind, essentially, with the hope that delinking relations with Taiwan from relations with China, maybe can help them to not motivate China's response.
REPORTER:
One thing that has become clear over the past few years is that the European security cannot be separated from the Indo-Pacific security.
REPORTER:
Taiwan has also emerged as an important supplier of drones to the region. As you mentioned before, Poland and Czech Republic, but many of them actually, at the end of the day end up in Ukraine.
Matej:
One scenario that is increasingly being discussed is what happens if China and Russia decide to move in concert, while China escalates in the Taiwan Strait. Russia could be escalating on the European front, which would make these two-front contingency that much more difficult for the other side, the Europeans, the Taiwanese, Japanese, Americans, to cooperate.
