China on Friday hit back at comments by the Polish prime minister that linked the war in Ukraine to a possible Chinese attack on Taiwan, accusing him of interfering in its internal affairs.
On Thursday Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said during a speech at the Atlantic Council think-tank in Washington D.C. that if Ukraine is defeated in its war with Russia, China may decide to invade Taiwan shortly afterwards
"God forbid, if Ukraine falls, if Ukraine gets conquered, the next day China may attack Taiwan," Mateusz Morawiecki said on Thursday. "I see lots of connectivity, lots of interdependency between the situation in Ukraine and the situation in Taiwan," he added.
"On April 13, a Polish government official... openly compared the issues of Taiwan and Ukraine, and made the unsubstantiated claim that if Ukraine loses the war, mainland China will attack Taiwan the next day," the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in Warsaw said in a statement issued on Friday (April 14).
"Any attempt to use the Ukraine issue as a pretext to insinuate a relationship with the Taiwan issue is political manipulation with ulterior motives, mindless trampling on the principle of respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and flagrant interference in China's internal affairs."
Stanisław Żaryn, a spokesman for the Polish security services, said China was trying to force Poland to "adopt Chinese optics regarding Taiwan."
"The attack by Chinese propaganda on the Polish Prime Minister, the style of operation of the PRC embassy in Warsaw and the way Beijing conducts its policy indicates that the Sino-Russian tactical alliance is covering more and more areas of joint action," he wrote on Twitter.
Both President Andrzej Duda and Morawiecki have stressed in recent days that the alliance with the United States is essential for European security, cautioning against any idea of "strategic autonomy" for Europe.
Poland reacted strongly to comments from French President Emmanuel Macron, who visited China last week. Macron said that the European Union should reduce its dependence on the U.S. and aim to become a "third pole" in world affairs alongside Washington and Beijing.
China in recent days has held intense military drills around Taiwan, which it claims as its own, and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, addressing the issue at a press conference in Beijing alongside her Chinese counterpart Qin Gang, said any attempt by China to control Taiwan would be unacceptable and would have serious repercussions for Europe.
EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell echoed her remarks in a statement prepared for a speech due to be delivered in Beijing at the Center for China and Globalization think tank on Friday that had to be cancelled after he caught COVID-19.
"A military escalation in the Taiwan Strait, through which ... 50% of world trade goes every day, would be a horror scenario for the entire world," said Baerbock, adding it would have "inevitable repercussions" for European interests.
In interviews published after his trip to China last week, which was meant to showcase European unity on China policy, Macron cautioned against being drawn into a crisis over Taiwan driven by an "American rhythm and a Chinese overreaction".
While many of the remarks were not new, the timing of their publication, and their bluntness, annoyed many Western officials.
"The European Union's position (on Taiwan) is consistent and clear," Borrell said in his remarks. "Any attempt to change the status quo by force would be unacceptable."
Borrell also said Europe's future relationship with China depended on it trying to use its influence to find a political solution to the Ukraine crisis.
"It will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the European Union to maintain a relationship of trust with China, which I would like to see, if China does not contribute to the search for a political solution based on Russia's withdrawal from the Ukrainian territory," Borrell said.
"Neutrality in the face of the violation of international law is not credible," Borrell said, adding an appeal for Chinese President Xi Jinping to speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and for China to provide more humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
Xi has met Russian President Vladimir Putin twice but not spoken with Zelenskiy since Russia invaded Ukraine in what Moscow calls a "special military operation" in February 2022.
China stated its opposition to attacks on civilians and on nuclear facilities in a position paper on Ukraine published in February, but it has refrained from openly criticising Russia.
"President Xi's visit to Moscow has demonstrated that no other country has a bigger influence on Russia than China," said Baerbock.
"It is good that China has signalled to get engaged in finding a solution. But I have to say clearly that I wonder why China so far has not asked the aggressor Russia to stop the war. We all know President Putin has the opportunity to do so any time he wants to."
Baerbock and Borrell also spoke about the risks of being too dependent economically on China, in line with comments made by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a speech last month on the eve of her China visit.
"We just paid a high price for our energy dependency on Russia, and it is well-known that one should not make the same mistake twice," said Baerbock, adding that economic security is core to Germany's strategy for China.
Borrell said that the EU needs to diversify its value chains to reduce its dependency on China for raw materials.
He also said that the increasing trade imbalances between the EU and China are "unsustainable" and called on China to remove market access barriers.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, Reuters