China, which until recently was the savior of Europe and supplied it with medical products, has become a threat amid how EU countries are gradually lifting quarantine.
The French Institute of International Relations has sharply criticized China. The help, which became decisive for many countries in Europe, was called “masked diplomacy” by analysts. Experts say that now there will be serious disagreements in the European Union, and relations between Brussels and Beijing will worsen.
Thus, the authors of the study emphasize that the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has already supported the anti-Chinese campaign initiated by Washington. Its essence is to investigate the origin of the coronavirus, and von der Leyen called it useful.
“China is becoming an increasingly controversial topic of domestic political debate in many European countries,” the report said. “At the same time, China’s actions towards Europe during this crisis time seem to reinforce a split on the continent.”
Disagreements, according to French experts, are related to the fact that “some EU countries in Central, Southern and Eastern Europe, as well as some countries in the Balkans, were more open to Chinese investment than their Western counterparts.” In particular, the authors pointed to Serbia, which at the beginning of the epidemic turned to its “Western colleagues” for help, but never received it.