2023-04-18 13:28:23
“For the dialogue with China to take place effectively, we have to align our positions and express them not with one voice, because we have a multiplicity of voices, but as a well-tuned choir. With many voices but trying to say the same thing or at least on the same wavelength. Plurality should not be a problem as long as there is a consensual position”, the EU’s high representative for foreign policy warned on Tuesday, Joseph Borrell, during a debate held in the European Parliament following the trip to China by French President Emmanuel Macron, and the controversy aroused by his statements on China and Taiwan and strategic autonomy vis-à-vis partners such as the United States. “It is essential for Europe. It is part of our geostrategic perimeter”, the Spanish politician has warned about the Taiwanese territory, urging the Twenty-seven to recalibrate the strategy against China to adapt it to the new circumstances but with “realism” and above all “unity”.
Borrell has recognized that relations between the EU and China will not be able to develop normally if Beijing does not use its influence in Russia to get Vladimir Putin withdraw your troops from Ukraine and end the war. “Any neutrality that does not distinguish between the aggressor and the victim is to take the side of the aggressor,” he warned. Even so, he has again defended that it is necessary to continue talking with China, “a superpower”, due to its “colossal influence in the world” because “dialogue is the basis of international politics”. He recalled that despite the rivalry that exists with the Asian giant, and although “China is not a democracy”, “collaboration should not be rejected” on major global problems such as climate change, and he has advocated avoiding a “cold war ” between West and East and for paying more attention to the countries of the South, which China has been courting for years in the construction of a world order “different from the one the West has built”.
“Our strategy with respect to China must be based on four words: values, economic security, Taiwan and Ukraine”, he warned, stressing the strategic importance of both Taiwan – which supplies 90% of semiconductors to the EU – and Ukraine for the EU. . “Taiwan is essential for Europe because it is the most strategic strait in the world and, in particular, for our trade,” Borrell insisted, recalling that any “action by force” against the territory must be rejected because Taiwan is part of the “geostrategic perimeter.” European. “I am sure that all European countries share this position”, he added about the need to guarantee peace and the interests of the continent without “add fuel to the fire”.
Recalibrate the strategy
The last time the European Union updated its strategy regarding China was in 2019. Since then “the world has changed, Europe has changed and our European strategy also has to adapt”, said the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who accompanied the French leader on a trip to Beijing that he has defended and described as “necessary” to eliminate misunderstandings. “It is urgent and good that we have this debate” because “this relationship is too important for us not to define our own European strategy”, the German also acknowledged, who noted with concern Beijing’s position on human rights, its presence in the China Sea or the economic and commercial coercion of Member States such as Lithuania.
“China has turned the page on the era of reforms and opening up and is moving towards an era of security and control,” von der Leyen added about Beijing’s strategy of control and dependency. Community leaders recognize that the Asian giant is a “vital” partner and show them the figures: a daily trading valued at €2.3 billion. At the same time, Brussels sees it as “urgent” to rebalance the relationship with transparency, predictability and reciprocity. “What we want is for China to respect a level playing field in the access of our companies to the Chinese market, to respect transparency on subsidies, to respect intellectual property,” von der Leyen said.
And beyond that, the risks posed by the link between the Chinese commercial and military sector. “We have to make sure that the capital of our companies, their experience and their knowledge are not used to improve the military and intelligence capabilities of those who are also our systemic rivals. That cannot be”, the German has warned about the need to examine the gaps in European legislation that allow the leakage of emerging and sensitive technologies through investments in other countries. “We are currently reflecting on whether -and how- Europe should develop an investment instrument for a very small but very sensitive number of technologies”, he confirmed about an element that will integrate the new Economic Security Strategy that the Commission will present in the coming months. .
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