Von der Leyen blasts Beijing in Manila speech

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen used a speech in Manila on Monday to take aim at China, slamming Beijing for its increasingly militant stance in the Indo-Pacific and its failure to live up to international responsibilities on Ukraine.

Delivering a keynote speech at the Philippines Business Forum, von der Leyen said that China, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, “has yet to assume fully its responsibility under the U.N. Charter to uphold the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”

She warned that China’s show of military force in the south and east China seas, and in the Taiwan Strait, may have “global repercussions,” noting that the EU has been enhancing its engagement in the Indo-Pacific.

Von der Leyen also made a big pitch for EU investment in the region.

“We cannot choose our neighbors, but we can choose who we do business with, and on what terms,” she said.

Noting that the Philippines exports 90 percent of its nickel to China, she said “this can change.”

“Unlike other foreign investors, we do not want to invest only in the extraction of raw materials. We can also support you in building local capacity for processing, powered by new clean energy infrastructure,” she added.

Von der Leyen’s visit to the Philippines, is the latest outreach by Western leaders in the region.

French President Emmanuel Macron has just wrapped up a tour of the Indo-Pacific, where he pledged to defend the independence and sovereignty of all states in the region. The Biden administration has also stepped up defense cooperation with Manila. 

The election last year of Ferdinand Macros Jr. as president of the Philippines, a country of more than 100 million people, has boosted its status as a potential economic and security partner for the U.S. and Europe following six years of Rodrigo Duterte’s authoritarian rule. 

Von der Leyen announced the relaunch of talks between the EU and the Philippines on a free trade agreement (FTA) which have been stalled since 2017. The two sides will shortly kick off a “scoping process,” she said.