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Huawei
This Week in AsiaOpinion
Cary Huang
Cary Huang

Sino File | As with Huawei, China thinks it can split the US and EU. It’s wrong

  • Beijing, Brussels and Washington appear stuck in an uncomfortable diplomatic love triangle.
  • China may think it’s the new apple of the EU’s eye, but in the end Europe will stick with its old flame, America

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Photo: Reuters
Cary Huang

A flurry of diplomacy between China and European nations has laid bare the complicated love triangle between Beijing, Brussels and Washington.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Italy and France this past week and the annual China-European Union summit in Brussels on April 9 (to be chaired by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang) are both conspicuous for their timing. They come amid both an escalation in the confrontation between the United States and China and a deterioration in US-EU relations.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan land at Rome's Fiumicino airport for a two-day visit to Italy. Photo: AFP
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan land at Rome's Fiumicino airport for a two-day visit to Italy. Photo: AFP

Brussels and Washington are currently locked in a dispute over a host of issues, most notably trade, and each side has repeatedly threatened to introduce punitive tariffs on the other. China is trying to exploit these divisions in transatlantic relations to rally support in Europe, particularly its G7 nations.

At the epicentre of the US-EU dispute is Chinese 5G technology. Many EU states are cooperating with Chinese telecom firm Huawei, defying the wishes of Washington, which has threatened to withhold intelligence sharing from its allies, citing its concerns that Huawei is a front for state-sponsored spying.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang. Photo: AP
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang. Photo: AP

Washington is also at odds with the EU founding members Italy and France, both of whom are also G7 and Nato nations. Both are keen to explore the potential of the Chinese market and attract Chinese investment. Indeed, China – the world’s second largest economy – is now the EU’s second-biggest trading partner.

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