While Brussels demands a hardening of his attitude towards Beijing, the twenty-seven do not intend to revise their positioning for the moment.
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It is a small neutral sentence in the conclusions of the European Council which was held Thursday October 20 and Friday October 21 in Brussels. Member States have “a strategic debate on European Union relations with China”. The sobriety of this statement should not deceive. The twenty-seven devoted almost three hours, Friday, to discuss relations with their first trading partner.
The debate has continued to intensify in recent months, between the member states, with the war in Ukraine and the support provided by Beijing to Russia, but above all, with the rise of tensions in the Taiwan Strait . “In recent years, China has appeared more and more as an alternative, economic, political or social model. A model that challenges Western vision, in a more assertive, even aggressive way,” summarizes a senior European official.
“Our own model to develop”
Community authorities would like to convince the twenty-seven to strengthen their message vis-à-vis Beijing, while retaining their autonomy vis-à-vis Washington, which tries to take them to a systematic confrontation. “We have our own model to develop,” defended Charles Michel, the president of the European Council. “It is important that Europe works with the greatest possible self -confidence, but also independently,” said Mark Rutte, the Dutch Prime Minister.
Since 2019, Europe has defined its relationship to China according to a triptych. China is considered both a partner in commercial matters or on global files such as that of the climate, a technological and economic competitor and a systemic rival, with its own model of values, distinct from a European democratic model. “It is a fairly plastic concept, which encompasses the relationships of twenty-seven with Beijing”, translates a European diplomat. “For the moment, we do not intend to change this grammar,” assured Emmanuel Macron, after the debates.
The fact remains that “the center of gravity of this triptych moves more and more, from partner to competitor and rival”, recalls a European diplomat. European states, however, still remain divided on the right posture to be found vis-à-vis Beijing. Certain member states such as the Baltic countries, traumatized by the reprisals exercised by China against Lithuania when it approached Taiwan, at the end of 2021, are favorable to a much more frank confrontation with the Empire of the Middle. p>
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