By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-03-29 10:01:33 | Updated at 2025-03-31 22:06:45
2 days ago
Even as China-Europe ties are showing signs of warming, Beijing needs to do “the right thing” by addressing European concerns – including over the Ukraine war – if it wants a “functional relationship” with the EU.
That is according to Arancha Gonzalez, who was Spain’s foreign minister from 2020 to 2021.
Gonzalez said building trust in a relationship was “not just about saying the right things, it’s also about doing the right thing”.
“If China really wants to invest in the future of the relationship with Europe, China knows what’s important to Europe,” she said in an interview on the sidelines of a forum in China’s Hainan province on Wednesday.
“It knows that climate change is important to Europe. It knows that a just and long-lasting solution in Ukraine is important to Europe. And open markets with fair conditions is important to Europe. Because this is what Europe believes in.”
It comes amid indications of a thaw in relations between China and Europe, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen – seen as the EU’s most prominent China hawk – saying last month that there was space to deepen trade ties with Beijing.
