Brussels sources have pushed back against China's claims that the EU's top diplomat "attaches great importance" to a Sino-Brazilian statement on ending the war in Ukraine, stating he did not say such a thing.

Josep Borrell met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the margins of an Asean summit in Laos on Friday.

A foreign ministry statement released shortly afterwards said: "The EU attaches importance to the peace initiatives of China and Brazil on the political solution of the Ukrainian crisis."

Senior EU sources said Borrell did not use those words. A statement from the bloc's External Action Service later in the day tried to correct the record.

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell (centre) attends the 57th Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers' meeting in Vientiane, Laos, on Saturday. 

"Josep Borrell asked China to use its influence on Russia to contribute to ending the war," said the statement, which was published in both English and Chinese.

"He asked China to support the Ukrainian peace process and believed that the joint statement between China and Brazil in May 2024 did not move in this direction," it added.

The behind-the-scenes pushback highlights the sensitivity of the issue: while Brussels continues to ask for Beijing's help in ending the war, launched by a Russian military invasion in February 2022, it fears China is moving ever closer to Moscow.

"Josep Borrell outlined the EU's characterisation of Russia's war on Ukraine as an existential threat to all of Europe and expressed concern about China's massive exports of dual-use goods and items to support Russian military hardware," Brussels' account said.

While discrepancies in diplomatic records are common, they are rarely egregious enough to cause major outcry. In Europe, the Chinese foreign ministry is widely seen to publish its statements quickly to help steer the narrative.

Some governments have tried to counter this. For example, a concerted effort emerged last year when touring Eurasian affairs diplomat Li Hui visited Warsaw to push the Polish version out first, so that journalists would not rely on Beijing's take of events to guide their stories.

Rescuers and volunteers clean up the rubble and search for victims after a Russian missile hit the country's main children hospital Okhmatdyt in Kyiv, Ukraine, on July 8, 2024. 

In the latest instance, China's foreign ministry has hit an especially sensitive European nerve. Beijing claims it is neutral in the war, but is broadly seen in the West to have sided with Russia in the first major armed conflict on European soil in a generation.

Shipments of dual-use items to Russia have escalated in recent months, various research papers have shown, while both Kyiv and Brussels accused Beijing of trying to "sabotage" a Ukraine-backed peace summit in Geneva last month.

In the run-up to the summit, the Chinese foreign ministry was phoning embassies in Beijing to promote an alternative Sino-Brazilian proposal.

That plan would see Russia's security claims represented, Moscow given a seat at the table and "fair discussion of all peace plans", EU sources said.

Europeans, meanwhile, have backed Ukraine to the hilt rhetorically, diplomatically and financially.

A senior EU official said the read-out of last week's bilateral summit was the "most serious effort" they had noticed in Beijing's attempt to set the narrative.

A second diplomatic source accused the Chinese foreign ministry of trying to "put words in Europe's mouths".

The development comes as China's point man on Ukraine, Li Hui, embarks on his latest shuttle diplomacy aimed at pitching the country as a mediator in a war that has run well into its third year.

On this trip, Li will visit Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia "to further exchange views with members of the Global South and accumulate conditions for restoring peace talks", according to Wang Lutong, the foreign ministry's top Europe official, who posted on X, formerly Twitter.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba visited China last week for talks with Wang, as well as Guangdong provincial officials, before a meeting with Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu.

"I am convinced that a just peace in Ukraine is in China's strategic interests and China's role as a global force for peace is important," Kuleba told Wang, according to Kyiv's version of the meeting, which said he also briefed the veteran Chinese diplomat on the Swiss peace talks.

In Beijing's official statement, Kuleba "attaches importance to China's opinions and has carefully studied the 'six-point consensus' reached by China and Brazil on the political solution to the Ukrainian crisis".

"Ukraine is willing and ready to engage in dialogue and negotiations with Russia," read China's account. "Of course, the negotiations should be rational and substantive, aiming to achieve a just and lasting peace."

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EU's Borrell offers Vietnam security support on South China Sea

The European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday the EU wanted to guarantee peace in the South China Sea and told Vietnam the bloc could help boost its maritime security and cybersecurity capabilities.

The Southeast Asian country is at odds with China over its boundaries in the South China Sea, a crucial shipping waterway which Beijing claims almost in its entirety - a stance that has caused tensions with other countries in the region as well.

In a meeting with Vietnam's Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son in Hanoi, Borrell, who is approaching the end of his five-year term as High Representative for EU Foreign Affairs, said the 27-country bloc had a "direct interest in maintaining peace and stability" in the South China Sea, where over a third of EU imports and more than 20% of its exports transit.

"The EU can be a smart enabler for peace and security," he told reporters during a joint press conference with Son, noting the EU could "enhance Vietnam's capabilities in cybersecurity, maritime security and crisis management".

Vietnam has relied for decades on military gear from Russia, but since 2022 has been publicly saying it wants to diversify its security equipment, and is in talks with multiple countries, including in Europe, over possible defence supplies.

Borrell stressed that the fulfilment of international law, which Vietnam invokes in the South China Sea, should be applied everywhere, including in Ukraine.

Many EU countries see Hanoi's non-committal stance on Russia's military operation in Ukraine as too close to Moscow.

CLIMATE TIES

Borrell also urged Vietnam to speed up the implementation of a plan agreed with the EU and other international donors to reduce its reliance on coal, on which little progress has been achieved since it was agreed in late 2022.

Borrell urged Hanoi to quickly identify priority projects which could be co-funded by international donors, such as on renewables or for the upgrade of the power grid.

Son said Vietnam welcomed the EU's financial support. However the country forfeited in recent years billions of dollars in foreign aid due to its slow approval of projects amid a sweeping anti-corruption campaign. Foreign donors have also committed mostly costly loans, instead of grants for Vietnam's transition away from coal.

"I would like my visit to be the moment to launch the process to upgrade our relations," Borrell said.

In the joint conference, during which media questions were not allowed, Borrell stressed strong trading relations with Vietnam and briefly mentioned human rights.

Many global powers, including the United States and Japan, have recently upgraded their diplomatic ties with Vietnam to the highest level in the country's ranking, in a sign of its growing strategic importance.

EU countries however have showed different positions about the opportunity for an immediate upgrade.

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Kyiv hails dialogue with Beijing, hints at potential Zelenskiy-Xi meeting

Ukraine has invited China's foreign minister to visit amid growing dialogue that could eventually lead to a meeting between the two countries' leaders, Kyiv's foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

Beijing casts itself as neutral on the Kremlin's 29-month-old invasion of Ukraine but maintains close ties with Moscow and sat out a Kyiv-organised peace summit in June.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba made his first wartime visit to China last week to meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. That was another sign that dialogue between Kyiv and Beijing is "developing very dynamically," said Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi.

Work toward a possible future meeting between Presidents Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Xi Jinping was constant, he added. Since the start of the war, the two have only spoken once by telephone, in April 2023.

"Did ... Minister Kuleba's visit to China bring closer a potential meeting of the leaders of Ukraine and China? It indisputably did," Tykhyi said at a briefing in Kyiv. It is, however, too early to tell when a meeting could take place, he added.

Kyiv has invited Wang to visit Ukraine and Beijing has indicated it was interested in the proposal, Tykhyi said.

"We are ready to welcome Minister Wang Yi in Ukraine to see first-hand the consequences of the Russian aggression against our country and hold deeper bilateral talks with him on a number of bilateral, regional and international issues," he said.

In China, Kuleba told Wang after a day of "very deep and concentrated" talks that Kyiv was prepared for talks on the war with Russia only if Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity were fully respected.

China, the world's second-largest economy, has provided diplomatic backing to Russia and helped keep its wartime economy afloat.

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EU calls for 'maximum transparency' in Venezuela election

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro

The European Union cannot recognise the results of Venezuela's presidential election until all polling station records are published and verified, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday.

"The EU calls on the Venezuelan Electoral Council (CNE) to exercise maximum transparency in the process of results tabulation," Borrell said in a statement.

Venezuela's national electoral authority said just after midnight that President Nicolas Maduro had won a third term with 51% of the vote - a result that would extend a quarter-century of socialist rule. Independent exit polls pointed to a big opposition win.

Borrell said the EU called on Venezuela's authorities to ensure the full and timely investigation of any post-electoral complaints and grievances.

He said there were credible reports the election was marred by "numerous flaws and irregularities".

"Obstacles to the participation of opposition candidates, deficiencies in the voter registry, and imbalanced media access contributed to unequal electoral conditions," he said.

He added that the European Union was concerned about arbitrary detentions and intimidation of members of the opposition and civil society throughout the electoral process.

He also appealed for calm and urged security forces to ensure full respect for human rights, including the right to peaceful assembly.

In May, the CNE revoked its invitation to the EU for it to send election observers, citing ongoing sanctions on the government.

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China Seizes Chance to Play Peacemaker in Ukraine Before US Vote

 Chinese President Xi Jinping is stepping up efforts to position himself as a peacemaker for ending Russia’s war in Ukraine, despite growing criticisms from the US and Europe that Beijing is propping up the Kremlin’s battlefield efforts.

With Moscow and Kyiv facing pressure at home and abroad to find a way to end the war, China last week hosted its first senior official from Ukraine since the conflict began in 2022. While Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba the time was “not yet ripe” for peace talks, he said both sides were now signaling a willingness to negotiate.

Beijing followed up that outreach on Sunday by dispatching its special envoy Li Hui to Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia to “build up conditions to resume peace talks” — countries that have also skipped imposing US-led sanctions on Russia.

The flurry of activity underscores Xi’s ambition to forge a bigger diplomatic role at a time when Kyiv — and the broader European region — are bracing for a dramatic shift in foreign policy from their most important ally. Republican candidate Donald Trump has vowed to end the war in Ukraine “within 24 hours” if he wins the US election, while his vice presidential candidate, JD Vance, has been critical of support to Kyiv.

China hasn’t shifted its stance but sees a window to establish itself as a more powerful player, said Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, adding that negotiations could take place as soon as this year.

“China is positioning itself for later rounds of talks,” he said, noting that departing President Joe Biden could also seek a deal to secure his foreign policy legacy. “Beijing wants its own share of the success and to position itself to play a constructive role and be celebrated for that.”

Beijing’s outreach comes after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s government announced it was open to Russian leader Vladimir Putin attending a second peace summit it’s targeting before the US vote in November — a condition for Beijing’s attendance. While Xi has been touted as a potential negotiator for his ties with leaders on both sides, Beijing’s support for Russia has cast a long shadow over his government’s claims of neutrality.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni views Xi as an important stakeholder in Russia’s war in Ukraine if Trump pulls back support, Bloomberg earlier reported, citing people familiar with her thinking. The far right leader offered to broker better ties between Beijing and Europe in a Monday meeting with Xi.

That move comes after Zelenskiy stressed Beijing could become a “mediator” with the US in ending the war in an interview with Bloomberg News. Kyiv has maintained ties with Beijing even as the US and Europe have threatened Chinese banks with sanctions over bolstering the Kremlin’s war machine.

Xi is working to boost his peacemaker credentials in regions where Washington has traditionally played a larger role, as the world’s biggest economies jostle for global influence — a mission that has united China and Russia. Last year, Beijing surprised Washington by presiding over the closing of a detente between long-time rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Ukrainian foreign minister Kuleba’s visit came as Beijing gathered Palestinian rival factions to sign an agreement to establish an interim reconciliation government. While that deal — dubbed the “Beijing Declaration” by the Chinese side — lacked details for how deeply divided adversaries such as Hamas and Fatah would work together, it signaled Beijing’s rising influence abroad.

“China will play a more important role in peace negotiations, in peacemaking and talking — not just in the Middle East and Ukraine but even globally,” said Wang Yiwei, professor of international relations at Renmin University.

That’s because the Global South bloc of developing nations increasingly trusts Beijing’s approach to diplomacy, which vows not to interfere with domestic affairs, he added. Ukraine would see China’s endorsement of any peace plan as a sign of Russian commitment, Wang said.

Exemplifying China’s cautious approach to Ukraine, however, Kuleba’s meetings last week were confined to the southern city of Guangzhou rather than being centered in the capital, Beijing. The Ukrainian official followed those talks with a stop in Hong Kong, where he warned the Chinese city’s leader about enabling Russia’s efforts to avoid US sanctions.

Europe would likely want reassurances about further Russian expansionism from any Ukraine settlement. Fears are growing that Putin could extend his ambitions to Baltic states that are North Atlantic Treaty Organization members, risking a bigger conflict with the defense alliance.

Whether Beijing would be willing — or even able — to try to secure guarantees of Russian restraint is unclear, said Ja Ian Chong, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore.

“Right now, the optics suggest Beijing is using Ukraine for its own purposes rather than offering any practical steps toward peace,” he added.

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