Kallas warns against US-Russia deal on Ukraine without Kyiv and E
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European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Sunday that any deal between Washington and Moscow to end the war in Ukraine must include Ukraine and the EU, adding that she will convene a meeting of European foreign ministers on Monday to discuss next steps.
'The US has the power to force Russia to negotiate seriously. Any deal between the US and Russia must have Ukraine and the EU included, for it is a matter of Ukraine's and the whole of Europe's security,' Kallas said in emailed comments.
US President Donald Trump plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.
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Kallas said that 'as we work towards a sustainable and just peace, international law is clear: all temporarily occupied territories belong to Ukraine'.
'A deal must not provide a springboard for further Russian aggression against Ukraine, the transatlantic alliance and Europe,' she added.
Kallas also said that ministers will discuss the situation in Gaza.
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Express Tribune
5 hours ago
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EU's extensive wishlist for China
The author writes on geopolitical issues and regional conflicts. He can be reached at Listen to article Brussels' readout of the 25th China-EU Summit was replete with charges. It's a significantly harsh tone compared to what European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen struck in April, urging both sides to support a "strong reformed trading system", representing a carefully calibrated signal of cooperation. True, the EU runs a massive trade deficit in goods of €305 billion with China. While this gives a colossal leverage to the bloc and strengthens its bargaining position in bilateral talks, Brussels' extensive wishlist muddles its ambitions to overcome the stumbling blocks, posing challenges to a "mutually beneficial" relationship. Indeed, trade with China has benefited European consumers, providing them greater access to cheap products and supporting 3 million jobs. Mutual investments have augmented European companies' profits. The country's capital inflows in electrical vehicle and battery manufacturing and the China-EU energy cooperation could enhance EU's production capacity and ensure its energy security, bringing economic prosperity and accelerating green development. After all, it was China whose imports and capital influx assisted to prop up Europe's creaking economies during the European sovereign debt crisis. Although it was seen as a strategic move to help itself, China's support at a critical time bolstered European ability to navigate one of the nastiest economic challenges. The EU has been accusing China of flooding the global markets with subsidised overcapacity. Beijing's competitive advantages including affordable labour costs, efficient supply chains and large economies of scale, producing more goods at significantly lower prices, are some of the major drivers behind its export boom. China has leveraged its low-cost production and immense innovation capabilities in advanced industries to make an increasing number of Chinese companies formidable global competitors. By frequently staying ahead in innovation, Beijing continues to lead or is on a par with global leaders in commercial nuclear power, electric vehicles and batteries and make progress in key sectors like robotics, biopharmaceuticals and artificial intelligence. The East Asian economy is a global manufacturing leader and a lynchpin of the global supply chain owing to its decades-old strategic policies that were envisioned to transform the country into a manufacturing powerhouse through industrialisation, skilled labour force, robust infrastructure and integrated supply chains. As a result, China's share in world gross production in 2023 was estimated to be three times of the US, six times of Japan and nine times of Germany. Over the last decade, China has revolutionised its manufacturing industry, from one focusing on output to that centering quality and innovation. Service industry, green development and domestic consumption presently are the core components of the country's economic growth, with value-added manufacturing continuing to rise. Beijing's share in global value-added manufacturing has risen from less than 9% in 2004 to nearly 28% in 2024 and it is forecasted to account for 45% of the world's industrial production by 2030 compared to the 11% of the US. Industrialisation has played a vital role in China's "remarkable" achievement of lifting 800 million out of poverty and contributing to nearly 75% reduction in extreme poverty globally, the top UN sustainable development goal. One of the EU's major concerns is China's export controls on rare earth elements (REEs). 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The EU needs to close these loopholes in its foreign policy to engage China on better footing.
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ISLAMABAD: A group of over 1,500 European Union (EU) civil servants have issued a letter to EU President Ursula von der Leyen and High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas, warning that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was approaching a catastrophic point of no return, declaring 'time is running out'. The letter, available with Business Recorder, was signed by EU Staff for Peace and addressed to Ursula von der and Kaja Kallas. The letter urged EU institutions to confront what the officials called the EU's moral and political failure to stop Israel's siege of Gaza. Citing historical precedent and statistical modelling, the officials predicted that without immediate and large-scale restoration of aid, Gaza could soon witness over 100 starvation-related deaths per day – many of them children – within weeks. 'Famines do not follow a linear trajectory,' the officials wrote, comparing the current trajectory in Gaza to historic atrocities such as the Holodomor and the great Chinese Famine. 'Once a critical threshold is reached, mortality rates can rapidly escalate, doubling each day.' Gaza civil defence says Israeli strikes on Gaza City intensifying The letter accused Israel of enforcing a blockade on food, baby formula, and medical supplies into the enclave, and called the situation 'a defining test' for the EU's credibility and founding values. The officials also sharply criticised the EU existing humanitarian strategy, claiming that air drops had been insufficient and, in some cases, ineffective. Notably, the letter condemned the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), accusing it of contributing to the deaths of around 1,000 people since May. 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