 "‘Always a partner’: Latvia, Portugal leaders play down China threat, call for ‘respectful dialogue’")
Marcos Perestrello, president of NAthe TO Parliamentary Assembly and a member of the Portuguese Parliament, said Tuesday (March 18) that China was “a partner” for everybody and we need to deal with it.
Perestrello was speaking alongside Latvia Foreign Minister Baiba Braze at Firstpost’s IdeasPod as part of the annual Raisina Dialogue organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
Calling China “an important supplier,” he said it would always be an important market but cautioned “we can’t depend” on it.
“It’s a strategic competitor,” he said.
‘Not a threat’
Meanwhile, Latvia Foreign Minister Baiba Braze said China was “not identified as a threat in Europe”, adding that the designation was only reserved for Russia for now.
“Russia has been identified officially as a threat for Euro-Atlantic security because of its aggression against Ukraine. So, from our perspective, it’s pretty straightforward,” she said.
She added it was important to have “respectful dialogue with China” with regards to Europe’s economic partnership with Beijing.
She highlighted the huge trade deficit between Europe and China in the latter’s favour, saying it was difficult for European companies to enter Chinese markets.
“The EU has been pretty open about opening its markets and letting countries and their products compete, but in the same time, entering Chinese markets, it’s very difficult,” she stated.
Security aspect
Braze also spoke about China’s growing military muscles and called for more transparency about objectives.
She said China’s nuclear ambition and capability would soon reach the level of the US and Russia. She stated that it was challenge for the whole world that China’s nuclear warheads are growing rapidly.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“I think it’s crucially important to have transparency about objectives, to have transparency about possible verification, to have those talks, to have those sort of strategic balance, engagements,” she suggested.
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