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BRUSSELS — Europe must be “bolder” on China, which has develop into “extra repressive at residence and extra assertive overseas,” in accordance with the president of the European Fee.
In a scathing speech forward of her go to to China subsequent week, Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday warned Beijing to not aspect with Moscow in bringing compromised peace to Ukraine, saying: “How China continues to work together with Putin’s struggle might be a figuring out issue for EU-China relations going ahead.”
She implied, for the primary time, that the EU may terminate pursuing a landmark commerce take care of China, which was clinched in 2020 however subsequently stalled by the European Parliament after a few of its members have been sanctioned by Beijing.
“We have now to acknowledge that the world and China have modified within the final three years — and we have to reassess CAI in gentle of our wider China technique,” she stated at an occasion co-hosted by the European Coverage Middle and Merics, referring to the China commerce deal, generally known as Complete Settlement on Funding.
Whereas von der Leyen has commented critically on China up to now, that is the primary time the EU chief has given a full speech on the bloc’s relations with Beijing. Pointing to the scenario in Taiwan, human rights violations in Xinjiang, and financial retaliations in opposition to Lithuania, she stated: “These escalatory actions level to a China that’s changing into extra repressive at residence and extra assertive overseas.”
“We’re involved by what’s behind this return to the worldwide stage,” stated von der Leyen, who might be touring to China subsequent week with French President Emmanuel Macron. “We have now seen a really deliberate hardening of China’s general strategic posture for a while. And it has now been matched by a ratcheting up of more and more assertive actions.”
She was particularly essential of the ties between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, the Chinese language and Russian leaders, who met final week in Moscow.
“Most telling,” von der Leyen stated, “have been President Xi’s parting phrases to Putin on the steps exterior the Kremlin when he stated: ‘Proper now there are modifications, the likes of which we haven’t seen for 100 years. And we’re those driving these modifications collectively.'”
The Chinese language Communist Occasion’s “clear aim is a systemic change of the worldwide order with China at its middle … We have now seen the present of friendship in Moscow which says a thousand phrases about this new imaginative and prescient for the worldwide order,” she stated.
She additionally known as on EU international locations to make “bolder and sooner use” of recent financial instruments in opposition to China, together with screening of international subsidies and a brand new coverage in opposition to financial coercion. The Council of the EU, representing the EU member states, has been cautious of over-empowering the Fee to take selections on punishing coercive international locations.
Amid what she described as an “unbalanced” financial relationship, von der Leyen stated the EU will introduce a brand new Financial Safety Technique later this yr.
“Europe ought to develop a focused instrument on outbound funding. This could relate to a small variety of delicate applied sciences the place funding can result in the event of navy capabilities that pose dangers to nationwide safety,” she stated. “We have to make sure that our corporations’ capital, experience, and data are usually not used to reinforce the navy and intelligence capabilities of those that are additionally systemic rivals.”
The EU, she added, must “outline its future relationship with China” in delicate high-tech areas reminiscent of microelectronics, quantum computing, robotics, synthetic intelligence and biotech.
Regardless of all of the rallying requires defensive motion, von der Leyen ended the speech with a notice of cautious optimism. “China is a captivating and complicated mixture of historical past, progress and challenges. And it’ll outline this century,” she stated.
“However our story about how we relate to China isn’t but absolutely written — and it needn’t be a defensive one.”