Incoming EU chief Ursula von der Leyen vows to ‘define’ relations with increasingly assertive China
- Debut media conference comes amid backdrop of calls for a tougher stance on China, with Hong Kong protests driving much of the conversation
- Sweden, an EU member with strained Beijing relations, is expected to unveil a strategic China paper within days
The European Union’s new top official vowed in her debut press conference to “define” the bloc’s future relationship with a “more self-assertive” China.
European Commission president-elect Ursula von der Leyen spoke to reporters in Brussels on Tuesday as Sweden, an EU member with strained China relations, is to unveil a new strategic paper on the Asian superpower this week.
China has sought to count on European comity as it continues to fight the 13-month-old trade war with the US.
But some European politicians – inspired by US President Donald Trump’s hard-nosed tactics – are calling for a tougher stance on China’s trade practices, cybersecurity threats and human rights policies, with the Hong Kong protests now driving a large part of the conversation.
“[My team] will shape the European way; build our relations with the United States of America – although we have issues, they are our closest ally; define our relations with a more self-assertive China; be a reliable neighbour, for example, to Africa; stand up for our values and world-class standards,” von der Leyen said.
“This commission will be a geopolitical commission,” the president-elect added. “I want the union to be a guardian of multiculturalism because we know that we are stronger by doing together what we cannot do alone.”
On her Twitter account, von der Leyen, who will formally succeed Jean-Claude Juncker in November, posted an image highlighting four points of her agenda: climate change, US relations, China relations and supporting the EU’s neighbouring nations.
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While von der Leyen did not go into detail regarding how she would deal with China, her remarks caught diplomats and analysts by surprise as the commission led by Juncker had already laid out a China paper in March, categorising China as a “systemic rival”.
“It’s a very complex relationship with China, so defining a relationship with China is vague,” said Duncan Freeman, a China expert at the College of Europe. “It’s still an open question what the future policy is.”
On Wednesday, Swedish national broadcaster SVT reported that Stockholm would unveil its long-awaited China Strategy paper in a few days.
The Swedish government also plans to set up a new China Centre to consolidate information about China, according to the report.
Sweden-China relations hit rock bottom in late 2015 with Beijing’s arrest of Gui Minhai, a Swedish citizen who was one of five staff members at a bookstore in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay area accused of publishing material critical of Communist Party leaders.
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Von der Leyen hinted at taking a more muscular approach on the thorny issue of Beijing’s subsidies to Chinese firms, saying two of her deputies would “address the distortive effects of foreign subsidies in the internal market”.
The EU has been looking at ways to tackle China’s massive subsidies, but trade chief Sabine Weyand last week ruled out applying EU state aid law “extraterritorially” – a reference to punishing companies for getting state subsidies if that happens outside the bloc.
The EU and China have sought to close some disagreements over trade and market reform. In April, China agreed to a long-overdue investment deal with the EU “by the end of next year, or earlier”.
But on cybersecurity, all eyes are on Brussels, awaiting its final 5G mobile technology policy guidelines and any possible recommendations regarding Chinese telecoms giant Huawei’s role in the technology’s next-generation development.
