China-EU relations: Liu He, Margrethe Vestager hold ‘constructive’ talks on global digital security
- Chinese vice-premier makes no direct mention of Beijing’s new Initiative on Global Data Security but hints at the spirit of it, source says
- EU says it presented its ‘digital strategy and stressed its priorities to promote reciprocity, fair competition and fundamental rights’
The comments came after Liu held a virtual meeting with European Commission executive vice-president Margrethe Vestager on Thursday.
While there was “no direct mention” of the Chinese initiative, Liu made reference to the “spirit” of it during his talks with Vestager, according to an EU official with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“This first high-level digital dialogue was held today in a constructive atmosphere,” Vestager said in a press statement after the meeting, adding that the two sides would “both play a role in defining how global technological developments will go forward”.
“The dialogue is therefore necessary to foster cooperation, but also to address divergences we have, like on reciprocity, data protection and fundamental rights,” she said.
In the same statement, the EU said the European Commission “presented its digital strategy and stressed its priorities to promote reciprocity, fair competition and fundamental rights” during an “open and frank” discussion “on topics where [our] approaches differ”, emphasising the broad gap between the digital policies of Beijing and Brussels.