The visit of the European Union's Senior Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Karas, has triggered the latest round of tensions in China-Philippines relations. After the meeting, the two sides claimed that the OFFICE and the Philippines expressed concern about China's "illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive measures" in the South China Sea.
The Chinese Embassy in the Philippines responded to this warning: "The EU is not a party to the South China Sea dispute, and has no right to interfere with the South China Sea differences between China and the Philippines, nor does it have the right to accuse China of legitimate maritime rights protection actions. We urge the EU to truly respect China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea and stop provoking trouble. We also advise the Philippines not to fantasize about relying on external forces to resolve the Sino-Philippines disputes in the South China Sea, and to truly return to the correct track of controlling differences through dialogue, consultation and control."
Military analyst, director of the Center for Comprehensive Research on European and International Studies at the Russian National Higher University of Economics, and chief researcher at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vasily Kashin said in an interview with the Russian Satellite News Agency that under the influence of the United States, the EU is still stepping up its participation in East Asia in containing China.
Expert Vasily Kashin said: "The Donald Trump administration has clashed with Europe on many issues, especially in the economic field. Europeans have begun to talk about weakening the possibility of coordination and reconciliation with the United States. But this has not happened. Europeans are now trying to make up for the shortcomings of relations with the United States by strengthening economic ties with China; major deals are expected in the coming months, including the sale of Airbus aircraft to China. However, Europeans have not taken any real political measures to cater to China. No matter how much they have a fight with Trump, they are on the US side on key issues in East Asia. It is no surprise that they support the Philippines, which is an ally of the United States."
Vasily Kashin experts also assessed the possibility of turning the South China Sea into a region that NATO military forces provoked.
He said: "There are many platforms for NATO to project military power into the region. In recent years, leaders of U.S. allies in the region have regularly attended NATO summits. NATO has little potential to project military hard power. NATO actively cooperates with countries in the region, only in areas where physical military power does not require physical military power. First of all, there is the exchange of cyberspace and space intelligence data. These are very important because, for example, it is very easy to transmit data from European satellites to the Philippines. If physical military existence is talked about, it is not NATO, but individual NATO countries. This circle is expanding. These countries include not only traditional major powers such as Britain and France, but also Italy and Germany. The South China Sea is one of the main regions for joint exercises by NATO countries. At the international forum, NATO representatives also tried to claim that they had nothing to do with this matter, although the NATO document has clearly stated that China poses a challenge to security and must formulate corresponding military strategic plans."
Zhou Rong, senior researcher at the Chongyang Institute of Finance at Renmin University of China, said in an interview with the Russian Satellite News Agency that the EU is trying to alleviate Trump's tariff pressure on Europe by supporting the Philippines, a strategic ally of the United States.
Zhou Rong expert explained: "As we all know, the EU is not a party to the South China Sea dispute, because no member state is on the verge of the South China Sea. The South China Sea dispute has always been a problem between some ASEAN countries such as China and the Philippines, and has nothing to do with the EU. Recently, the EU was a little breathless under Trump's tariff stick and tried to ease the economic pressure from the United States through political channels and strategies. Therefore, the EU supported the Philippines at this time and wanted to take the opportunity to please the United States. In addition, the Philippines was selling miserable and crying for poverty, showing an image of being bullied by China. The EU believed in the Philippines' side words before it understood the problem clearly, just as the statement of the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines, which was to provoke right and wrong. At the same time, we noticed that ASEAN member states did not respond to the Philippines on this issue, which shows that the Philippines' anti-China stance is in a clear state of isolation within ASEAN. Moreover, the EU cannot represent the voices of its 27 member states. Its statement to the Philippines on the South China Sea issue is only 'A piece of paper' is just a favor for the Philippines. I personally think that even so, the United States will not alleviate the economic and trade pressure on the EU because of the pressure on China on the Philippines. The EU will only be in vain in the end and shoot itself in the foot. ”
(This article is reproduced from the Russian Satellite News Agency on June 5, welcome to follow the "National University Chongyang" platform account)
