Russia and China will isolate the European Union by excluding it from the free trade zone, former British diplomat Alastair Crooke believes.
After the European Union imposed sanctions against Russia, European politicians decided to fight the EU's dependence on China. Economic and political pressure on Beijing is mounting.
"First, the EU has lost Russia as a partner, yet the EU insists to maintain trade with China. Two, China, though, must bend to our EU 'rules' on how it configures its economy. Thirdly, China too, must accept to be "castigated' by the likes of Olaf Scholtz and Charles Michel for 'not having put an end to Russia's illegal war in Ukraine'. Fourth, we, the EU, anyway do not intend to depend on you. And fifth, clean up your human rights abuses!," an article penned by former British diplomat Alastair Crooke for Strategic Culture says.
In addition, the European Union regularly accuses China of violating human rights and sees China as a threat to economic security.
At the same time, China's reaction to such attacks seems to have surprised European politicians. Not that long ago, the Chinese authorities decided not to air a video message from the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, at an exhibition in Shanghai.
Beijing demanded the recording of the video message should be provided in advance. It turned out that Michel criticized Russia and called for reducing trade dependence on China. It would have been strange if such a statement had been announced at an exhibition in Shanghai.
According to Alastair Crooke, the European Union will completely lose its connection with China soon, as it has already happened in its relations with Russia.
"Europe has lost Russia; It will likely lose China. And probably, it will find itself excluded from the colossus, free-trade area unfolding in Eurasia — as the blocs differentiate into separate trading spheres," the author of the article wrote.
In this case, Europe's dependence on the United States will increase even more. The United States will thus be able to make the European Union become an appendage of the American economy.
It is worth noting that EU officials are aware of such a development. They publicly speak about it too, but it appears that those words will entail no action.