Europe needs to adopt a harder line on relations with China, former envoy says

There is now an awareness that Europe ‘can no longer rely on vague promises of reform [from Beijing] but needs to develop its own instruments to level the playing field’, ex-EU ambassador to China Dietmar Schweisgut says

Issues like the role of China’s state-owned enterprises and subsidies ‘also need to be addressed’, he says

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Former EU ambassador to China Dietmar Schweisgut says Europe needs to focus on creating a level playing field with the Asian giant. Photo: Simon Song

Published: 3:30pm, 1 Dec 2019Updated: 11:01pm, 1 Dec 2019

The new European Commission, which takes office on Monday, should stop relying on “vague promises of reform” from Beijing and focus on creating a level playing field amid China’s ever-growing influence on the world stage, a former EU diplomat said.

Dietmar Schweisgut, who was the European Union’s ambassador to China until last year, dismissed the perception that China could take advantage of a sour EU-US relationship to inch closer to Europe.

“The EU has clearly moved to a more realistic assessment and is adjusting to the fact that the balance of challenges and opportunities presented by China has shifted,” he said.

“There is much greater awareness now in Europe, that the EU can no longer rely on vague promises of reform but needs to develop its own instruments to level the playing field in the absence of real progress.”

The EU can no longer rely on vague promises of reform from China, a former envoy said. Photo: AP

Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to attend a summit with all the EU’s heads of state in Leipzig, Germany in September, becoming the first Chinese leader to be invited to do so. He is also expected to make an introductory call to Ursula von der Leyen when she formally takes over as head of the EC on Sunday.

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