EU advised to refrain from ‘politically correct’ values for China ties
Europe and China attached greater importance to pragmatic cooperation, despite some Western media described that the EU-China summit on Monday concluded with more differences than consensus. Chinese observers on EU affairs pointed out that EU defending their so-called values by bringing up a number of issues such as Hong Kong, Xinjiang and human rights could be interpreted as building a “spiritual fortress” in the face of China’s growing influence.
Though EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stressed that it’s not possible to shape the world of tomorrow without a strong EU-China partnership, and that the EU is committed to working with China in crucial areas, the EU saw this partnership as “complex” and vital, as the bloc seeks to defend its values, said observers. For instance, on the Hong Kong matter, the EU reiterated its “grave concerns” at steps taken by China to push forward the national security law, and sees those steps “not in conformity” with the Basic Law and China’s international commitments.
Some Western media believe that the EU and China sparred not only over geopolitics but also on the economy, while the two sides failed to come up with a joint declaration or joint press conference, which has been interpreted by the likes of the New York Times and Bloomberg that the summit yielded little results.
Europe’s policy toward China has always been two-sided: on one hand, the region needs to cooperate with China on economy and globalization; on the other, they remain alert to and feel threatened by the power of a different ideology and development model, Sun Keqin, a research fellow at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
Facing growing pressure from the US government, the EU has been forming a more complex view in recent years toward China, which is its largest economic partner, with some lingering concerns over pragmatic issues such as stateowned enterprise investment, market access and ideological differences.
“The EU-China summit is extremely important for the EU as it faces a serious choice which will have major consequences for Europe,” John Ross, a senior fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times.
In the next two years, economic growth will be far stronger in China than in any other major center of the world economy, and it would be greatly beneficial for the economic recovery of the EU, he noted.