Multilateralism 'cannot be based on cherry-picking,' Josep Borrell tells China

"The world in which we live is multipolar, but it requires regulation. We need to agree on the basic common principles," the European Union's foreign policy chief said on Friday in a wide-ranging speech delivered at Peking University, in Beijing.

"The real problem in our world today is that multipolarity has increased, but multilateralism has decreased. There are more players in the world game, but there are less rules," he went on. "Multilateralism is in crisis."

Borrell acknowledged a "peaceful rivalry" between the EU and China over their divergent interpretation of human rights but insisted that "universal values go beyond the values of each individual country. They are bigger."

He then made a direct appeal to prevent "the right of the stronger" from reshaping the world order, as Russia is attempting to achieve through its large-scale war on Ukraine.

"We have to build rules. The rules precisely exist to protect the small against the big, the less wealthy against the rich," Borrell said. "We try to abide by the rules, living by multilateralism, which cannot be based on cherry-picking."

"Accepting the rules of the WTO (World Trade Organization) but not those of the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea. We cannot choose the law that we want to fulfil. The system has to be fulfilled completely. This system is indivisible," he added.

The EU, together with its G7 allies, has long accused China of pursuing a highly selective interpretation of international law. For example, by, on the one hand, strongly defending the principle of national sovereignty and non-interference in domestic affairs while, on the other, waging disinformation campaigns across democratic societies and imposing measures of economic coercion against its critics.

The Chinese equidistant stance in the Ukraine war has also been denounced as a biased application of international law, namely the prohibition of acquiring territory by force.

"We consider essential that China makes a major effort to convince the people of Ukraine that China is not Russia's ally in this war," Borrell said.

China has struck back by making similar accusations about the West, criticising, for instance, the