(Estonian Tarinn Comprehensive News) Estonia Foreign Minister said that China's rejection of condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine is one of the reasons why Estonia withdrew from the cooperation framework of Central and Eastern European countries and China.
Estonia and Latvia announced last week that Lithuania will withdraw from the 16+1 cooperation framework between Central and Eastern European countries and China.Lithuania was withdrawn from Beijing to the dispute with Beijing last year after allowing Taiwan to establish a representative office.
According to Bloomberg, Estonica Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said in an interview on Saturday (13th) that Estonia would not lose any benefits because of his exit.
He said that this move mainly has political meanings. "The cooperation mechanism has not produced any major practical results. We would rather contact China through the EU as a single entity."
Bloomberg quoted an anonymous person who said that Estonia and Latvia were also seeking to withdraw from the cooperation mechanism in other countries, but they were unsuccessful.People familiar with the matter said that the other three or four countries are also considering exit, but this is a political decision depends on which leader is in office.
It is reported that before the outbreak of the Russian and Ukraine War in February, the enthusiasm of the Central and Eastern European countries had a decline in enthusiasm for the cooperation mechanism.Some countries are dissatisfied with the continuous expansion of the trade gap in China, saying that China has failed to fulfill billions of dollars of investment commitments.
The 16+1 cooperation framework of Central and Eastern European countries and China was established in 2012. It mainly promotes cooperation in infrastructure and development projects.16+1 refers to 16 countries and Central and Eastern European countries, including Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, etc.
