Britain’s G7 ‘democracy summit’ not an anti-China coalition with Joe Biden, says EU diplomat
- Expansion of Group of 7 to include other democracies is not aimed at Beijing, European Union’s ambassador to China insists
- Nicholas Chapuis predicts EU will work more closely with the US regarding China, but not undermine recent EU-China investment agreement
The proposal is viewed by some as an anti-China alliance.
Speaking at a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday, Chapuis defended London’s proposal and said that it was “perfectly legitimate” for democracies to discuss the issues of the day but that it was not directed at Beijing.
“For the EU, which sits in both the G7 and the G20, there is absolutely no issue of us building a so-called coalition against China,” he said. “This is not what we are doing.”
He added that the G7 had been a forum of democracies since 1975, so was both an economic forum and a political one.
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The dialogue, at the level of US secretary of state and EU foreign policy chief, will cover a wide range of issues including human rights, security and multilateralism.
Chapuis defended the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, which took seven years of negotiations before their conclusion in December, and said it was not among the things Brussels would discuss with the US.
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Chapuis said discussions on an EU-China climate deal were under way, but things would only succeed if new commitments were made.
“We expect, we wish, we propose China to [join] our joint initiative before Glasgow,” he said, referring to this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference, to be held in Scotland in November.
“But this joint initiative is not a repetition of what has already been said; it is a commitment to do more. There will be in the next few days and weeks high-level meetings between the EU and China on this matter.”