Tuesday, December 1, 2009

China bemused by flat Europe

By Pepe Escobar
Asia Times

"In theory, Europe now has a unified voice. But while Europeans were expecting bubbly champagne, they were handed flat cola in the form of the new European Council president, Belgian Herman van Rompuy, and quasi-EU foreign affairs minister, Baroness Catherine Ashton. China might well ask the immortal Henry Kissinger question: "Which number do I dial when I want to talk to Europe?"......

And as the EU rotating presidency is still in effect it was up to the Swedes, via Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, to come to Nanjing and deploy to the Chinese the usual menu. Please soften up North Korea and Myanmar. And please talk not sense but sanctions to the Iranian leadership - even while China keeps stressing its absolute non-interference in other countries' internal matters. On Iran, few in "unified" Brussels seem to have listened to the Chinese ambassador to the EU, Song Zhe, when he said last week, "We must be very cautious to conclude that peaceful nuclear technology will be used for military ends." Iran is absolutely essential for Chinese energy security......."

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