European Union: CCP is a Systemic Rival

Recently, the European Union publicly accused Russia and China of spreading disinformation to affect democracy during the pandemic. Many European countries also disapprove of the way the Chinese Communist Party suppresses Hong Kong and Taiwan. Austrian media warned that Beijing’s power to suppress freedom in Hong Kong and Taiwan will be used in the same way to affect the entire world in the future. Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency, Vera Jourova, and the High Representative of the European Union, Josep Borrell, conducted a joint video press conference on June 10 publicly accusing Russia and China of spreading false information during the pandemic. Josep Borrell said: “The coronavirus pandemic has been accompanied by a massive information pandemic. We have witnessed a wave of false and misleading information, and conspiracy theories, as well as targeted influence operations by foreign actors. Some of this is aimed at harming European Union and its member states.” Vera Jourova continued saying: “As for the foreign actors and foreign forces, we are clearly mentioning Russia and China, and we have sufficient evidence to do such a declaration, it’s very well evidence based.” On June 10, the European Union released a new strategic document in which it accused Beijing and Moscow of targeting the EU, the adjacent area, and even the entire world to spread disinformation and propaganda to influence actions. Virginie Battu-Henriksson, the spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy for the ‎European Commission, expressed her dissatisfaction with the CCP’s selective reporting in an interview with South China Morning Post. She said that Chinese officials keep propagating that "China and Europe are not systemic rivals, but comprehensive strategic partners", but that the EU formulated a policy last year that described the CCP as a "systemic rivalry”. Current affairs commentator residing in the U.S., Xing Tian-Xing, explained that the CCP virus pandemic, the coverup of the virus, and Mask Diplomacy and Wolf Diplomacy completely changed the EU’s perspective on the Chinese Communist Party. She said: “The EU's overall understanding of the CCP has aligned with the Trump administration's earlier understanding. We can see that, in the future, the EU, the U.S. and the Five Eyes will form an even closer tie. A man’s plan is not as good as God’s plan, when the CCP has done everything in its power, it actually fastens its own isolation and destruction.” For the same reason, the CCP’s investment activities in Eastern Europe are becoming sensitive and unwelcoming. Romania announced at the end of May that Nuclearelectrica, the state-owned company, has to halt its agreement with China General Nuclear Power Group (CGNPG) to build a nuclear power plant and that it would find a new partner for the project. Prime Minister of Romania, Ludovic Orban, also expressed that it is impossible to continue to cooperate with the CCP. This is the biggest setback to the “Belt and Road Initiative” in Eastern Europe. Another important project of the Belt and Road Initiative in Eastern Europe is the investment in Klaipėda Port in Lithuania, where the Baltic Sea meets the Danė River. Beijing wanted to invest heavily in the transformation of the port but this plan was unsuccessful. Since last year, countries around the Baltic Sea have named China and Russia as the main threats in national security reports. Besides the pandemic, the CCP’s constant and intensifying suppression of Hong Kong and Taiwan has also triggered disapproval from European countries. Der Standard, an Austrian daily newspaper, published a commentary warning from Alexander Görlach, a political science scholar, on June 9, that “Just as the People's Republic is dealing with Hong Kong and Taiwan, it will be dealing with the rest of the world as soon as it has the power to do so. Those who love freedom cannot want that.” Xing Tian-Xing further said: “The global pandemic of the CCP virus has proved that the world is now punished by the power of the