MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th June, 2023) European Union leaders are concerned about the highly tense situation around the Taiwan Strait, but reaffirm the bloc's commitment to the One China policy, according to the document outlining the results of a two-day summit in Brussels out on Friday.
"The East and South China Seas are of strategic importance for regional and global prosperity and security. The European Union is concerned about growing tensions in the Taiwan Strait. The European Council opposes any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion. It reconfirms the EU's consistent 'One China policy,'" the document posted on the European Council's website read.
Meanwhile, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said the EU should have its own approach to China, knowing that transatlantic partners have a "very strong view" on the issue.
"We see China more and more as a systemic rival, and we have to think about the risks that are there. What is important is that we have our own European approach to our relations with China. We know that our transatlantic partners have a very strong view there, but we have to agree on our common approach," she told reporters on the second day of the meeting.
The European Council convened for a two-day summit in Brussels from June 29-30 to discuss, among other things, the latest developments in the Ukrainian conflict, EU-NATO cooperation and the bloc's relations with China in light of the upcoming meeting between the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in July. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg participated in the summit.
Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949. Beijing regards the island as its province, while Taiwan maintains that it is an autonomous entity but stops short of declaring independence. Beijing opposes any official foreign contacts with Taipei and regards Chinese sovereignty over the island as indisputable.
The latest escalation around Taiwan took place in April after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen met with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Beijing responded by launching massive three-day military drills near the island in what it called a "warning" to Taiwanese separatists and foreign powers.
