The EU’s diplomatic service intends to rebalance China’s policy to lessen economic dependence on Beijing while maintaining global cooperation.
The European External Action Service delivered a seven-page plan to EU states before Friday’s foreign ministers’ meeting in Stockholm.
The document is the EU’s latest attempt to reconcile the views of its 27 member countries and maintain a separate EU strategy to Beijing while maintaining a tight collaboration with the US.
In a letter supporting the plan, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell stated three grounds for “re-calibrating” China policy.
“The degree to which China is changing with nationalism and ideology on the rise; the hardening of the US-China competition affecting all policies areas; and the fact that China is a key player in regional and global issues” were these.
Depending on Reuter’s suggestion, “cooperation, competition and rivalry will continue to be at the centre of the EU’s China policy, even if the weighting between these different elements may vary according to China’s behavior.”
“It is obvious that rivalry has become more important in recent years,” it says. So we must keep talking to China. First, its global impact. Second, China is staying.”
The memo says US coordination will “remain essential.”
The EU “should not subscribe to an idea of a zero-sum game whereby there can only be one winner, in a binary contest between the US and China.”
The study advises screening investments and tightening export controls to “de-risk” EU economic dependence on China.
The EU should “diversify sources of supply in key sectors, particularly those crucial to our green and digital transition,” such as semiconductors, 5G and 6G telephony, batteries, raw materials, and critical minerals.
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