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China unhappy over EU support for separatists: experts
« on: February 23, 2011, 11:00:52 AM »
China unhappy over EU support for separatists: experts
KARACHI, Feb 23: Speaking at a seminar on Tuesday, experts discussed various aspects of relations between China and the European Union.
Titled `Significance of EU-China partnership and its reflection in Global Politics`, the event was organised by the Area Study Centre for Europe, University of Karachi, in collaboration with the Hanns Seidel Foundation, Islamabad, says an ASCE press release.

Five speakers from Islamabad and Karachi spoke at the moot.

Dr Noman Sattar, head of the department of strategic and nuclear studies, National Defence University, Islamabad, spoke on China-EU Strategic Partnership: Challenges and Opportunities . He said that while the United States has wavered between a policy of containment of China and engagement with the latter, the Europeans favour engagement. The overall EU policy on China is based on the strategy of engaging Beijing in global multilateral institutions and encouraging it to assume its roles and responsibilities in this regard. While all important EU countries maintain bilateral relations with China, interaction at the EU level is considered especially important, for the EU impresses upon China the need to improve its capacity “to manage its governance challenges” and improve the quality of life of the Chinese people.

While China and the EU agree on many political and strategic matters, they also have sharp differences despite the ongoing strategic dialogue.

The Chinese ruling elite strongly feel that the West does not have a realistic perception about China`s cultural traditions and development issues. Alleged human rights abuses by China continue to cause unpleasantness between the two sides. China dismisses Europe`s concerns as interference in its domestic affairs and has snubbed the European Union for supporting the separatist movements in Tibet and Xinjiang. Fazal-ur-Rahman, director, China Study Centre, Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad, in his paper on EU-China Relations: The Korea Factor elaborated on the impact of the Korean Nuclear issue on EU-China relations pointed out that the revelation that North Korea was pursuing a nuclear weapons programme in defiance of its international treaty obligations came as a shock not only to the international community, but also to China, which is the oldest ally of North Korea. China came under immense pressure from the US and the EU to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear programme.

The US wanted China to immediately suspend its economic support to the recalcitrant state. The halt of Chinese assistance, particularly of food and fuel, would have led to the collapse of the state. Beijing resisted this pressure, for it felt such a move would be detrimental to its own strategic interests. China insisted that a multilateral dialogue involving all regional stakeholders, including the US, Japan and South Korea, be held to resolve the issue. It strongly opposed the use of force and economic sanctions against North Korea.

Ghulam Murtaza Khoso, a lecturer at the Area Study Centre for Far East and South East Asia, University of Sindh, in his presentation titled Contemporary Sino-Russian Relations: European Apprehensions dilated on the history of Sino-Russian relations and pointed out that Central Asia was a region where the contemporary security interests of Russia and China overlap. In this region, Russia and China compete for energy sources and commercial opportunities.

The shared concerns of China and Russia in Central Asia are the issue of ethnic separatism and US military presence.

Munazza Nargis Kazmi, a senior research fellow at the Area Study Centre for Europe, University of Karachi, in her paper titled The Taiwan Question: The EU`s Stand, said the EU fully understands the sensitivity of the Taiwan question as it involves the American and Japanese strategic and economic interests. At the official level, the EU has adopted the `One China Policy` and has made efforts to facilitate confidence building measures to promote a peaceful resolution of the issue of the Taiwan Strait. At the unofficial level the people and elites in Europe in general favour a resolution of the Taiwan issue based on the wishes of the people of Taiwan.

Earlier, Dr Naveed Ahmad Tahir, the ASCE director, welcomed the guests and introduced the topic.Dawn