Xi calls for more cooperation: China offers vaccine to Eastern Europe

Xi calls for more cooperation
China offers vaccine to Eastern Europe

At the annual summit meeting of China with 17 states from Eastern and Central Europe, President Xi Jinping makes an offer: He promises vaccine deliveries, but at the same time calls for more cooperation with the powerful partner. Two EU countries are already on board.

China has promised corona vaccines to the states of Eastern and Central Europe and at the same time called on them to cooperate more closely. China is ready for vaccine cooperation, said President Xi Jinping at the so-called meeting 17 + 1, according to the state news agency Xinhua. China's annual summit with 17 countries in Central and Eastern Europe, including Poland, the Czech Republic and Greece, was held virtually this year.

Xi Jinping said Serbia has received a million doses of vaccines from a Chinese company so far. The EU member Hungary had also entered into a cooperation with a Chinese vaccine manufacturer. China will actively examine such cooperation with other countries in the region, if necessary. Openness and inclusion are the key to the ongoing dynamic of cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries, the Chinese president said.

According to a report in the "Süddeutsche Zeitung", however, it seems at least questionable how much love China's vaccination advances will meet. Several European governments had left it open before the meeting whether they would attend at all. Estonia and Lithuania declared that they did not want to be represented by their presidents or heads of government. The newspaper also quotes an EU diplomat who said that many states were "disappointed" because hopes for China's investments had not been fulfilled.

The "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" also lists several cases in which European countries recently resisted China's influence. For example, the Chinese state-owned company CGN was excluded from a tender for a planned nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic, and something similar is said to have happened in a deep-water port planned in Croatia under pressure from the EU and the USA. Since the end of January, Romania has also waived Chinese support for the construction of railway lines and highways.

China has invested billions of euros in the infrastructure of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in recent years. There is criticism from parts of the EU about China's engagement in the region. Accusations have been raised that Beijing wanted to expand its influence and divide Europe.

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