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Thank you. Thank you for your invitation and thank you for your attention. In the interest of time, I will go directly to the subject. There are many things that happen around the world and some of them in our immediate neighbourhood, but I will resist the temptation of talking about them and focus on the title of this panel.
And I want to make two points about the European Union approach to security and the cooperative answer to the security challenges in the Indo-Pacific. First, I stress how important is the security in the Indo-Pacific for Europe. Second, why and how the European Union in the current geopolitical context is a valuable and credible piece of the regional security architecture through cooperation, tailored partnerships based on common trust.
First, why is the Indo-Pacific important for us in the current geopolitical context? We have to look at each other in a more comprehensive way [than] simply through economic lenses, because the strategic and economic interests are more than ever intertwined. Economy and strategy are the two sides of the same coin. And now the Indo-Pacific is the beating heart of the world.
We are 15% of the world trade. The Indo-Pacific accounts for 45% of the world trade. Altogether, combined, we are about two-thirds of the world trade.The security in Europe and the Indo-Pacific are increasingly interlinked. Your security is an important part of our security. China's so-called no-limit partnership with Russia, although everything has limits, and the military support of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to Russia's invasion of Ukraine shows the direct impact on European security with the prolongation of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
Forty percent of our trade passes through the South China Sea. That's why avoiding tension in the South China Sea or the Taiwan Strait is of the utmost importance for us. And here, today, I've been listening to different approaches and different evaluations of this tension in the South China Sea, but certainly they are.
All this happens in an international context in which we are confronted by the return in both Europe and Asia to a challenging interstate rivalry, which is taking place through different modalities, from war, interstate war, high-intensity conventional war, as the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, where one country is trying to crush its neighbour in a blatant violation of international law. I do agree that it is not the only place where international law is being violated. It's not the only one.
And that's why we need to be consistent with our principles and prevent the practice of double standards. Yes, in Gaza, we have a clear situation where we have to avoid double standards. And if we applaud when the International Criminal Court acts against Putin, we should be able to do the same thing when the same court acts against other actors in the Middle East.
Second, there is the just economic rivalry with a weaponization of trade, including a strain on global shipping and supply chains, which are vital for both Europe and Asia.
And third, just interstate political rivalry, which leads to political realignment and certainly hedging strategies.
The second issue is, in face of all this, how we are adjusting our strategy and our offer to the region. What the European Union [is] offering to the region in order to build a cooperative approach to security.
We are a geopolitical actor with no hidden agenda, with a strong commitment to security based on international law and the United Nations Charter and we have a significant experience on conflict and crisis management. That's why I think we can offer a unique contribution to the security in the Indo-Pacific and we presented a strategy on that issue in 2021.And after the invasion of Ukraine came, we are gradually accepting the idea that we have to take charge of our own security. In 2022, we published a Strategic Compass, which is our first EU strategy on security and defence.
We know we have a lot to do, a lot to achieve. But certainly, the era of strategicnaivetéis over. And that's why we are multiplying our partnerships with the region and more precisely, security and defence partnerships that are currently being negotiated with two key partners, as well as the important Memorandum of Understanding signed last week with Australia on critical raw materials.
Yes, it has been [said] this morning, your security is also our security. That's fully true. And in regard to all this, I would like to convey three messages from Europe.
We are a credible and committed partner in security and defence. Last year, I said and I want to repeat this year that we are a smart security enabler. This means that the European Union has a know-how, an added value in non-traditional security domains and we are willing to build close cooperation on these areas: in cyber, in disinformation and foreign interference, in the maritime domain - where we have launched several Navy operations, ASPIDES in the Red Sea to protect the merchant vessels, ATALANTA, in the North Western Indian Ocean - and we contribute to maritime security awareness. We also develop cooperation in economic security, on non-proliferation and disarmament, on counter-terrorism and in space.
And second, Europe is a principled entity.We believe in some basic principles and we try to be consistent with them. We are far from being perfect. And certainly, important questions are being put about what's happening in Ukraine, in Gaza and in the South China Sea.
The important thing is not to say that people have to abide to international law and to fulfil the humanitarian law when they are at war. The question is what happens if they don't? What's happening when they don't? And in some cases, it is clear that they are not doing. This is the real question that the international community has to be able to answer.
We will look at the better way of doing that: building cooperation and avoiding confrontation. Our Member States rarely oppose major resolutions at the United Nations Security Council.And those who have a veto power do not use it.
And third, last one, Europe has to learn from Asia. You know how much this region is innovating and creating value.I am always interested by the views of the ASEAN and in particular of the Singaporean friends. When they talk about Asia, it is because they have the capacity of carrying an Asian vision of the world, the coming world, while remaining closer to the West, to us, to the Europeans. So let's work together and learn from each other.Thank you.
[Question]Thank you so much. This question is for High Representative Borrell. In a trip to Brussels last week, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said that China is engaged in a sustained, comprehensive effort backed up by its own leadership designed to give Russia every support behind the scenes that will allow them to reconstitute elements of their military force.
He also said that the Chinese were surreptitiously abetting the most destabilizing war in Europe since the Second World War. As you know, the European Union has listed four Chinese companies in a package of sanctions in February. But since then, by all accounts, Chinese dual use and other support for Russia's military has only increased.
Is the EU prepared to respond to these developments with more sanctions, perhaps during the NATO summit next month in Washington? Is the EU response slowed by the threat by China of economic retaliation? And can China and the EU maintain a normal relationship under these circ*mstances? Thank you.
[HR/VP] Well, I had yesterday the opportunity to discuss about it with the Chinese Defence Minister. And look: China cannot be put at the same level as North Korea or Iran when it comes to supply arms to Russia. China has committed not to supply arms and we don't have evidence that this has happened.And they continue insisting that they don't supply arms, and we don't have the evidence that this has happened.
But there is not a clear border between arms and non-arms, because there are things which can be dual use. And certainly, the economic reported relationship between Russia and China has increased a lot. In the last two years, the amount of exports from China to Russia has increased more than in the last 10 years and we are vigilant in order to see if this is not a way of circumventing sanctions. Because the European sanctions cannot be applied to third countries, like the American sanctions.So it is not an issue of applying our restrictive measures to China, because we cannot – not to China or to any other country in the world. But looking at the circumvention – and yes, some Chinese firms have been limited in their capacity to trade with our European firms, because they were suspicious that this could be a way of circumventing sanctions and we remain vigilant for that.
But the problem is not only China. When you do the autopsy of a Russian tank destroyed, you see inside such a big number of components that are being produced in the West, in the US, or in Europe, or the UK, the question is: Who and how these things, these components, which [are] not an arm in itself, but [are] being used to produce arms, [reach] Russia? By which way?
And you have a look at the increase on the exports from Europe to some countries in the Balkans, or some countries in Central Asia, you see that this export has been multiplied in some cases by 5,000.
Well, this strange appetite for importing more from Europe, from countries that are not directly related to the war, is quite strange. And one can imagine that this big import has been redirected to Russia.We have to be vigilant, whatever happens. And in the case of some Chinese companies, we have taken restrictive measures and we will continue looking at that.And we continue asking China to use their influence in Russia - and certainly they have a lot of influence - in order to push for Russia to stop its aggression to Ukraine.
This is about a direct question. Other issues have been discussed here.One of the most important, apart from the war against Ukraine, which for us is an existential threat - certainly for Ukraine more than for anyone else, but also for us, Europeans, and we invite all of you to attend the Peace Summit in Geneva on the 15th, a couple of weeks from now.
But there is the other big conflict in our neighbourhood, which is the Israeli-Palestine and the current attack of Israel against Gaza.
And on that, I think that it is important to say that international law has to be fulfilled and humanitarian law has to be fulfilled, especially at war. And it is very much important that we believe in an international rules-based order that is going to be applied to anyone, not only to the people that we don't like. And I think that one of the ways of showing that we are really attached to international law is to put all pressure on Israel to fulfil the ruling of the International Court of Justice, and to give all the support to the International Criminal Court, and to be acting in an order that we avoid the double standards’ accusation.
And to reject the accusation of antisemitism that the Netanyahu government is launching against some of the Member States of the European Union, who have decided to recognize the state of Palestine, or against the International Criminal Court - the prosecutor - or against the ruling of the International Court of Justice. These accusations of antisemitism has to be fully rejected, and international pressure has to be put in order to stop the military operations in Gaza - ceasefire, release of hostages - and start a political process that could bring peace to the region by building the two-state solution. It is not just a matter of humanitarian support. It is, but apart from that, it is the commitment of the international community to build a sustainable peace based on giving to the two people - Israel already has it – and to the Palestinians the statehood that [it] requires in order to live together, side by side, in peace and security.
Watch video here:https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-257700
