Opinion | EU Envoy calls Beijing a 'partner competitor'
By Augustus K. Yeung
Introduction
The fact that Washington and Beijing are locked in a structural rivalry is fait accompli: US President Joe Biden will continue to play the Taiwan card to shore up his image at home whenever he sees fit, and his counterpart President Xi Jinping will be responding accordingly, so as to project his strong leader image to the people in China.
However, China-EU relations leave much room for recalibration and reestablishment. This is especially so considering that the China-friendly Angela Merkel is stepping down; she will be replaced by a new German chancellor.
Having experienced former US President Donald Trump's selfish "America First" policy, and shocked by the irresponsible way the American departure from Afghanistan, the EU states will no longer be as dependent on their US ally as before, creating room for positive bilateral relations between EU and China.
EU Top Diplomat Called China a "Challenge"
"The European Union's top diplomat has called China a 'strategic and ideological challenge' as foreign ministers from the Group of Seven nations met," Shi Jiangtao reports for the Post.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell made the remarks during a two-day gathering of top diplomats from the world's richest nations in Liverpool, England, in their second in-person meeting of the year.
While the meeting was dominated by Russia's tensions with Ukraine, China's increasing assertiveness, especially its challenge to Western democracies and fierce criticism of Washington's summit for democracy, was also high on the agenda.
"China represents today a challenge, a strategic and ideological challenge," Borrell said. "[We] have to be vigilant, gathering our forces in order to endure, for example, the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea where 40 per cent of the exports of the European pass by these waters."
Now China Knows How Best to Handle the US
Despite a temporary détente after the first US-China virtual summit last month, Beijing has mounted what observers described as unprecedented attacks against the administration of President Joe Biden in recent weeks, particularly against his democracy summit last week.
Representatives from about 110 governments attended the two-day virtual event hosted by Biden, rallying behind calls by the US to uphold democracy and rights.
Apart from denouncing Biden's pet project as trying to stoke Cold War-era ideological divides, the foreign ministry called American democracy a "weapon of mass destruction", citing unilateral sanctions and "color revolutions" overseas.
In a Saturday meeting on the sidelines of the G7 gathering, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi agreed to strengthen their cooperation to counter China and North Korea.
Japan Seems Emboldened and Is Siding with Taiwan
"[It is] indispensable to bolster the deterrence and response capabilities of the alliance amid the increasingly harsh security environment," the two officials were quoted by Japanese foreign ministry as saying, according to Kyodo.
They repeated their strong opposition to "China's bid to alter the status quo by force in the East and South China seas and affirmed the importance of 'peace and stability' across the Taiwan Strait," according to a Japanese official.
But they did not discuss whether Tokyo would follow Washington in a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics next year, Kyodo reported.
Blinken and Hayashi, who took up the post last month, also stressed the need to work with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and like-minded nations such as Australia and India.
The New Minister Sees China as a "Partner Competitor"
While officials from Australia, India and South Korea also attended expanded sessions on regional security cooperation and pandemic control, top diplomats from ASEAN, except for Myanmar, were invited for the first time to the gathering to discuss China's maritime behavior.
The G7 meeting was expected to end yesterday with a statement on Russia, China and other pressing topics, such as Iran.
An unnamed US official said there was "tremendous convergence" among diplomats on how to deal with China, while Germany's new foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said they agreed to designate China a "partner competitor", according to Reuters.
Listen to the Advice of the Chinese Expert
Pang Zhongying, a specialist in international affairs at the Ocean University of China, said the G7 meeting occurred at a critical time, as both Beijing and Washington were poised to take a tough foreign policy stand because of domestic considerations.
"It is both an opportunity and a challenge for the Biden administration to rally support over China, such as on the Olympics, as the gathering is expected to set the tone for their relations with China for 2022, when Germany will take over the EU presidency from Britain," he said.
When it came to China's relations with the EU, Pang said Beijing should be careful not to push the Europeans further into the Americans' orbit. "While the US will continue to exert pressure on its European allies, China should take the interests into account, especially its needs to defend its autonomy on foreign policy and strike a balance in the US-China rivalry, and avoid further antagonizing the EU. There are still opportunities to ease tensions with the EU," he said.
Zhang Ming's Conciliatory Tone is Praise-Worthy
China's top envoy to Brussels, Zhang Ming, appealed to European business groups last week, urging them to play a bigger role to reverse the downward spiral of EU-China relations.
In a dialogue with several business groups, Zhang said he was leaving for Beijing soon and had a long list of regrets during his four-year stint as ambassador to the EU. Topping the list was the suspension of a bilateral investment deal in the wake of tit-for-tat sanctions over alleged rights violations in Xinjiang last year.
"I sincerely hope that China and the EU will seek common ground while shelving differences…I hope to join all of you to make my list of regrets much shorter, and eventually turn it into a lost of hopes and deliverables." ("E.U. ENVOY CALLS BEIJING A STRATEGIC CHALLENGE." South China Morning Post. Monday, December 13, 2021.)
Conclusion
This time around, the European leaders seem to be more receptive, flexible and accommodating than their American ally, which seems to have lost its dominant world leader role as far as the Europeans are concerned. They may have come to think that the Americans are far too political and far too unstable, depending on the conditions of their domestic situation.
Accordingly, Beijing should play the American card skillfully and tactfully and deal with the EU generously and genuinely; it is awful having to face "enemies" on both fronts.
As China enters the new year 2022, there is room for great diplomatic efforts, and certainly handsome rewards from its "partner competitor", an enticing oxymoron.
The author is a freelance writer; formerly Adjunct Lecturer, taught MBA Philosophy of Management, and International Strategy, and online columnist of 3-D Corner (HKU SPACE), University of Hong Kong.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
Read more articles by Augustus K. Yeung:
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