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Amid the deterioration of relations between the 27 EU countries and China, Lithuania believes that China constitutes a “division of the 17+1 mechanism.”  The country’s Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis announced that Lithuania has decided not to attend the 17+1 summit. Landsbergis called on EU member states to respond to China in unison, and called on other member states to withdraw from this mechanism.

The 17 + 1 mechanism was a cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. It was an initiative of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to promote business and investment relations between China and the 17 CEE countries.

On Thursday, this Baltic country’s parliament formally adopted a resolution that found Beijing to be committing “genocide” and a “human holocaust” against Uighur Muslims. The Lithuanian parliament also called on the United Nations to organize a mission to Xinjiang to investigate the mass detention of Uighurs and asked the European Union to revise its relations with Beijing.

Lithuania has taken several initiatives in recent months that have infuriated Beijing including vetoing Chinese investments and opening commercial offices in Taiwan. The Chinese Foreign Ministry lodged a protest on March 4, “strongly opposing” the establishment of Lithuanian official institutions in Taiwan.

In February this year, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia took the lead in lowering the level of participation in the summit between China and CEE countries, sending in a minister instead of a president or a prime minister. Six countries followed suit.

China has attached unprecedented importance to the February 17+1 summit. President Xi Jinping personally chaired the conference, which was usually hosted by Premier Li Keqiang. Although the Chinese Foreign Ministry has also been making frequent behind-the-scenes moves to get leaders of member states to attend, this year’s summit saw the lowest level of participation ever since the mechanism was established in 2012.

Analysis suggests that the 17+1, which was seen from the beginning by the EU as a mechanism to try to divide Europe, is now losing its initial aura. The failure of the Chinese to deliver on their investment promises, as well as the disproportionate trade benefit brought to Beijing, has disappointed the host countries. The outbreak of the corona virus epidemic has impaired China’s image even worse. Beijing’s recent counter-sanctions against the EU over the Uighur human rights issue have caused unprecedented damage to bilateral relations. The European Parliament’s recent decision to freeze the “EU-China Comprehensive Investment Agreement” is another example of the apparent deterioration of bilateral relations.

Source: Radio France International, May 23, 2021
https://rfi.my/7QAU.T

Beijing plans to rebuild an airport based on an abandoned U.S. military airfield runway and a bridge on Kanton Island, in the Republic of Kiribati. The move shows China’s ambition to further its foothold in the Pacific Ocean.

The island nation of Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean has a population of 120,000 but has one of the largest exclusive economic zones in the world, covering an area of more than 3.5 million square kilometers of waters. Kanton Island is midway between Hawaii and Australia and 3,000 kilometers southwest of the U.S. military base in Hawaii. Any major infrastructure on the island would provide China with a stronghold deep into the region where the United States has maintained strong ties with and its allies since World War II.

Kanton has been a nature reserve since 2006. China plans to build a 2-kilometer long airstrip. During the World War II, the U.S. military used the island as part of an air ferry route between Hawaii and the South Pacific region. After the war, commercial airlines used the island as a trans-Pacific stopover for refueling.

Until the late 1960s, the U.S. had used the island for space and missile tracking; today, Kanton is used only for emergencies. Analysis indicates that once the existing runway is upgraded, it will be long enough to support the deployment of fighter jets. If further upgraded and extended, it will be able to support the deployment of large transport aircraft and maritime patrol aircraft.

China also has plans to build container ports in the region. Kiribati and Solomon established diplomatic relations with Beijing in 2019 after breaking diplomatic ties with Taiwan. They also joined the “Belt & Road Initiative.” Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Kiribati President Taneti Maamau on January 6, 2020.

The other four island nations in the Pacific region — the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Nauru, and Palau — continue to maintain diplomatic and economic relations with Taiwan. Palau’s new President Surangel Whipps has called for greater U.S. investment in the region.

China’s economic development efforts have resulted in the partial or complete purchase of more than a dozen ports around the world since 1990, with Southeast Asia among the major areas of Chinese investment. The current increase in Chinese investment in Pacific ports and islands is part of its longer-term strategic consideration. There have been concerns about the dual commercial and military use of these ports, although Beijing does not acknowledge its military purposes.

Source: Radio France International, May 7, 2021
https://rfi.my/7NQG.T

The Austrian newspaper Die Presse reported on May 14 that a spokesman for the Austrian military confirmed that civil servants have taken Chinese language courses at the Confucius Institute. In exceptional cases, teachers from the Confucius Institute also came to teach at an Austrian military base, such as the Theresian Military Academy in the Wiener Neustadt, a city south of Vienna.

Richard Trappl, the 70-year-old Austrian director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Vienna, wrote to the newspaper that “the Confucius Institute at the University of Vienna can be considered as a language intermediary agency, such as the Cervantes Institute or the Berlitz Language School.” He declined multiple interview requests from the reporter. The newspaper reported that officials from the Austrian military also receive Chinese language training at the controversial institution. Sweden, also a member of the European Union, closed its last Confucius Institute back in April last year. Universities in the United States, Germany and Australia have also recently ended, suspended or renegotiated their cooperation with Confucius Institutes.

A spokesman for the Austrian military confirmed to the newspaper that officers are taking Chinese language courses at the Confucius Institute. In exceptional cases, CI teachers also have come to teach at the premises of the armed forces, for example at the Theresian Military Academy in the city of Wiener Neustadt. The newspaper mentioned that Austrian officers started to learn the Chinese language in 1997, when one military officer was sent to Beijing. At that time there was no Confucius Institute.

Beijing Foreign Studies University and the University of Vienna jointly established the Confucius Institute at the University of Vienna on September 25, 2006. It was the first Confucius Institute in the country,

In the past two years, two Austrian military employees received language training from the Confucius Institute and paid 7,900 euros. Several Sinologists told the newspaper that, even without the Confucius Institute, there are enough highly qualified native-speaking teachers in Vienna to conduct language courses on this scale.

In addition to the Austrian military, the Confucius Institute also taught at the country’s Academy of Diplomats. While the Austrian Foreign Ministry recruits future diplomats from the Academy, it has not sent staff to the Confucius Institute for language training. A spokesperson for the ministry said, “In line with the political positioning of the EU, Austria sees the People’s Republic of China not only as a partner and economic competitor, but also as a strategic adversary that advocates alternative models of governance.”

Source: Radio France International, May 16, 2021
https://rfi.my/7Ots.T

According to a German TV station ARD Fernsehenin, there is a provision in the proposed EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) which provides that, in the future, only Chinese citizens can head Germany’s foundations in China.

Foreign foundations and Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) face a lot of difficulties in China because the authorities place severe restrictions on what they can do. This provision is an article in the appendix of the Agreement on Investment. The German foundations in China told ARD Fernsehenin’s studio in Beijing that they were concerned about this and that the provision is “confusing” and “threatening.”

Germany’s Reinhard Bütikofer, the chairman of the European Parliament’s China delegation and MEP (member of the European Parliament) for the German Green party Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen, called the provision “scandalous.” The MEP, who China recently sanctioned, said, “When Chinese citizens have to lead the work of a German political foundation or business association, the Communist Party effectively establishes the direction of its work.”

The foundations were surprised by the provision in Appendix II of the agreement. The appendix was supposed to regulate the company’s access to the market. A representative of a foundation said that the clause seemed to have “fallen from the sky.” In particular, the stipulation that only Chinese citizens can hold management positions in foundations is stricter than the regulations on NGOs that were introduced in 2017.

Under the German Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the EU and China reached agreement in principle on the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment at the end of December. The agreement is currently frozen due to the sanctions that China imposed on multiple members of the European Parliament.

Source: Radio France International, May 13, 2021
https://rfi.my/7ON3.T