00:00How do you think this latest news, that China is helping train Russian soldiers who then fight in Ukraine, could
00:05impact China-EU relations?
00:08This new revelation that China has been training Russian soldiers, which were later deployed to the Ukrainian front lines,
00:18that is another point that adds to the growing list of issues over which EU and its member states have
00:25problems with Chinese activities.
00:28This will be particularly worrisome for those members of the EU that are located on the eastern side of it,
00:36especially the Baltic states, Poland, which already since the very beginning of the Russian aggression have been signaling to China
00:44that their relationship with China is going to be impacted if China continues to provide various forms of support to
00:54Russia.
00:55Many EU member states are already calling for EU, taking a tougher stance of China with regards to the trade
01:01issues,
01:02because we can expect that there will also be calls for a stronger political stance on China.
01:09You can expect also a new wave of sanctions on Chinese companies and other actors that are involved in this
01:16training.
01:17This report comes out as there's been increasing engagement between Taiwan and Central and Eastern European countries on security issues
01:24like drones.
01:24Do you think that these two processes are related at all?
01:28Well, to some extent, they are connected.
01:31Already, the growing closeness between China and Russia has been motivating some of the European countries,
01:38like Estonia, like Latvia, to break some of their ties with China,
01:43because they would find China's support for Russia not just detrimental to Ukraine's security, but to their own security.
01:52It is a bit of a mixed picture on this.
01:55For some states, this is very clearly linked.
01:58Some of the others are trying to de-link these issues with one goal in mind, essentially,
02:08with the hope that de-linking relations with Taiwan from relations with China
02:12maybe can help them to not motivate China's coercion response.
02:22Do you anticipate any changes to the EU or perhaps individual member states' cross-strait policy?
02:29Well, one thing that has become clear over the past few years is that European security cannot be separated from
02:38the Indo-Pacific security.
02:40Taiwan has also emerged as an important supplier of drones to the region,
02:46as you've mentioned before, Poland and Czech Republic,
02:48but many of them actually, at the end of the day, end up in Ukraine.
02:51One scenario that is increasingly being discussed is what happens if China and Russia decide to move in concert.
03:01While China escalates in the Taiwan Strait, Russia could be escalating on the European front,
03:08which would make this into a two-front contingency and that much more difficult for the other side,
03:17with the Europeans, the Taiwanese, Japanese, Americans to cooperate.
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