Huanqiu shibao (China): the situation in Ukraine forces the European Union to rethink a lot
The European Union has admitted that it made mistakes in relations with Russia, but it did not go beyond this realization, writes Huanqiu Shibao. Superficial judgments, hysteria and strategic mistakes of the EU, resulting in four packages of sanctions, confirm this, the author of the article emphasizes.
During the summit of the European Union, held not so long ago at the Palace of Versailles, an accelerated procedure for Ukraine's accession to the European Union was not agreed upon. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrel admitted that the European Union made mistakes in the development of relations with Russia, and that some points "could have been done better." But a couple of days later, at a diplomatic forum in Antalya, he also noted that the focus of the strategic autonomy of the European Union is not the military issue, but the issue of external dependence, including reducing dependence on Russian energy carriers and East Asian chips.
Judging by these statements, the European Union thinks superficially and has not yet come to the conclusion that security in Europe ultimately depends on the Europeans themselves. Winston Churchill also said: "Never let a crisis go to waste." Unfortunately, the European Union has not learned lessons from the European debt crisis and the Ukrainian crisis, which continues to develop to this day. In 2004, the EU expanded to the east, ten countries became its members at once, which led to a debt crisis that arose due to the imposition of various factors. The Ukrainian crisis in 2013 and the events in Crimea in 2014 were caused by the discussion of the signing of the Association and Free Trade Agreement between Ukraine and the EU. In fact, Europe still does not take into account the "loser in the Cold War" Russia. Not to mention the fact that the US military-industrial complex continues to contribute to the expansion of NATO to the east and the compression of Russia's security space. During a security conference in Munich last month, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that "those who oppose NATO expansion will receive more NATO forces near their borders," which from Russia's point of view can be described as an undisguised threat.
The European Union should think carefully about the following questions: if it had not ignored Russia's security problems and recklessly absorbed the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, would NATO and the EU have faced today's crisis? If it were not for the erroneous understanding that the collapse of the Soviet Union was not a "victory of freedom and democracy" and even more so the "end of history", would the West have expanded NATO to the east?
The reflections of the European Union are very shallow and, one might say, even slightly off course. There are both institutional and cultural reasons for this, as well as the factor of American influence. Returning to the concept of indivisibility of security contained in the Helsinki Final Act, if the European Union really believes that "Europe's security should not be directed against Moscow or bypassing it," then it is necessary to stop following the direction of the United States. Thus, the current situation in Ukraine could have been avoided.
Despite the fact that conflicts arose from time to time in Asia after the Cold War, there were still no large-scale military operations. But Europe was constantly in an unstable state - Kosovo, Georgia, Ukraine. With the beginning of events in Ukraine, she faced the most dangerous situation since the end of the Cold War. European countries have followed the example of the United States by imposing package after package of sanctions against Russia. Even Switzerland, which has maintained neutrality since the signing of the "Peace Treaty of Westphalia" in 1648, joined the sanctions. Switzerland did not violate its neutral status even during the times of Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin. This indicates the undermining of the psychological state of European countries. Such moments require the European Union to carry out a systematic institutional rethinking.
The situation in Ukraine prompts Europe to the following reflections: who is she, where are the origins and where to move on? Is Ukraine the "gateway of Europe" or the border of Europe? Can the EU represent Europe? What are the next directions? How do political Europe, geographical Europe, economic Europe and cultural Europe intersect? How will the EU and NATO, striving for strategic autonomy, coexist? What is more important for Europe, peace or war, the rule of law or oppression?
In the process of reflection, the European Union must comprehend its own realities, especially in aspects related to Russia. Firstly, in terms of culture and religion, there are "three Europeans": Latin Catholic Europe, German Protestant Europe and Slavic Orthodox Europe. Slavic Europe is obviously close to Russia. Secondly, in political terms, Europe is divided into "old" and "new". Most of the Central and Eastern European countries that joined the EU came from the former Soviet socialist camp. With the exception of Hungary, which challenged the European Union, most of them are hostile to Russia because of historical memory. Thirdly, the economies of European countries are very different, as is their dependence on Russian energy carriers. All these aspects together determine the contradictions between the East, west, north and south of the European Union.
In addition, the European Union should think about the future world order: is it worth returning to the order of a monarchical and national state, or is it better to continue living under the hegemonic order of the United States? Or maybe even unite with China and other developing countries to help build a world order more in line with modern realities and future trends? Is such a measure as sanctions reasonable, legal and appropriate? European countries blindly follow the United States in strengthening sanctions against Russia, which only contributes to the realization of the forecast of an "institutional adversary". There are also rational people in European academic and political circles who believe that sanctions will not be able to resolve the situation in Ukraine. There has never been a precedent in history for sanctions to resolve a military conflict. Although today's Western anti-Russian sanctions are unprecedented in scale, they are still not enough for Russia to stop the special operation. Moreover, sanctions themselves are like a war, and there is no way back. For many years, the European Union has been saying that it will no longer be superficial in its actions, but judging by what is happening in reality, all this seems to be empty chatter.
Now that the EU has realized that it has "made mistakes" in its relations with Russia, what should be done right now is to stop making them, think about how to further treat Russia and improve the current situation, and then reflect on how to treat China - another "an unstable zone," according to the United States.
