Borrell warned that the EU must “at least do what Japan did, that is, understand that our own capabilities must be developed if we are to be an actor capable of influencing world affairs, using elements of coercion to make others behave as we want”. .

In this context, he also defended “Close cooperation” with this country or with Australia and South Korea as part of the European strategy to expand the presence in the Indo-Pacific region.

The head of community diplomacy referred to an agreement in the EU to promote the production of ammunition for delivery to Ukraine and replacement of arsenals.

“I am not at all satisfied with the need to invest in the production of weapons that will be used in war. I’d rather it didn’t happen,” he said.

But he wondered, “What soft power it should be used with Russia” as “we are at war and wars are fought with guns” despite the fact that the EU is not part of an aggressive conflict undertaken by Moscow against its neighbor.

Borrell lamented that “we live in a world that is not what we would like it to be” in which “we are seeing the return of classical competition between states using war in its most classic and conventional expression.”

“We are always ready work for peacebut also to face situations in which someone does not want and provokes wars,” he said.