Opinion | Why China senses strategic advantage in its ‘new historical starting point’ with Europe
- Mathieu Duchâtel writes that Beijing thinks the moment to push the transatlantic alliance may be at hand as trade ties between the EU and the US may be tested in 2020.
In Madrid and in Brussels this month, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi characterised EU-China relations as standing at a “new historical starting point”. He added that for China, supporting European unity and prosperity was a “strategic choice” given the absence of “geopolitical contradictions” and “conflicts of interest”.
This is not exactly new language, except for the “new historical starting point”, which suggests great ambitions for breakthroughs between the EU and China in 2020.
It is understandable that China senses an opportunity. The EU could be the next target of a United States effort to replace multilateral trade rules with managed trade – using US influence to impose deals that reduce the American trade deficit (US$109 billion with Europe in 2018). And there are transatlantic disagreements over climate change, Iran policy, the future of Nato and more.
There is, however, strong and mutually reinforcing convergence across the Atlantic on many aspects of policy towards China, but it is not total convergence – loopholes exist, and no one can predict with certainty the effects on Europe-China relations of an American trade offensive against Europe in 2020. In addition, a new European Commission is in place in Brussels and it is time to test it.
Weakening the transatlantic alliance is in China’s strategic interest. Beijing seeks to prevent joint action on priorities such as access to foreign technology, the promotion of democratic values, and the question of Huawei’s participation in the construction of 5G infrastructure in Europe.
