U.S. AND E.U. ‘NEVER BEEN MORE ALIGNED’ ON CHINA

Senior officials from both sides hold two days of talks before expressing concerns about the Taiwan Strait, Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong

Washington and Brussels have “never been more aligned” on their strategic priorities towards China, senior diplomats from the US and EU said, reversing earlier signs of cross-Atlantic divergence on Beijing.

A joint statement on Friday after two days of talks in Washington between US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and her EU counterpart, Stefano Sannino, the European external action service secretary general, said the two sides aimed to “further reinforce” their bilateral strategic partnership on China and in the Indo-Pacific region.

“They affirmed that the United States and European Union have never been more aligned on our strategic outlooks,” they said.

The two sides expressed concern about Beijing’s “provocations that increase the risk of crisis” in the Taiwan Strait, the document stated.

They also “reiterated their serious concerns about the human rights situation in China, including in Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia and Hong Kong” and “affirmed everyone around the world has the right to peacefully protest, mindful of the ongoing protests in China”.

Still, the two sides indicated no change in their long-standing

basic positions on Taiwan, including their one-China policies.

Sherman and Sannino also discussed “shared efforts to press China to urge Russia to end its war of choice in Ukraine”.

That echoed the language from a joint statement a day before by US President Joe Biden and French leader Emmanuel Macron. It said the two allies would “coordinate on the concerns regarding China’s challenge to the rules-based international order, including respect for human rights … [and] the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait”.

Beijing responded by urging Washington and Paris not to “make an issue of China” and saying that their bilateral relationship should not harm the interest of a third party.

The unity expressed this week between EU and US officials resembled the sentiments voiced by Nato in June, when the defence alliance identified China for the first time as a “systemic challenge to Euro-Atlantic security”.

At other times recently, European officials have defended their engagement with Beijing.

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell on Tuesday said most countries of the bloc “don’t want to have to choose” and “don’t want a world that is split into two camps”. His observation followed his attempts last week to distance the bloc from the US’ push to ban the export of high-end chips. And on Thursday, European Council President Charles Michel met President Xi Jinping for their first face-to-face engagement since before the pandemic. They promised to keep talking amid “multiple crises”.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who visited China last month as the first major Western leader to do so since the pandemic’s outset, said on Tuesday that “decoupling” was not a solution to global economic challenges.

However, Washington looks to have held firm on China despite a series of in-person, senior-level exchanges between the two countries in finance, trade, climate change and military matters after Xi and Biden met last month on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Wednesday said China had become a growing threat to national security, US companies and workers.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on the same day said businesses reviewing their supply chains should be mindful of the geopolitical risks surrounding the Taiwan Strait as well as Chinese practices that have raised US national security concerns.

Despite Washington’s efforts to close ranks with Brussels on China, Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday offered more favourable comments.

In an interview with France 2 as part of events tied to Macron’s state visit to Washington, Blinken noted Xi’s comments during his meeting with Scholz opposing any moves that would lead to “a nuclear crisis in Eurasia”.

Asked about concerns that Moscow might turn to nuclear weapons in its war in Ukraine, Blinken said: “You even have Xi Jinping in China who has made statements on this.”

Blinken confirmed that he and Biden planned to visit China in January or February, after an agreement between the two leaders at the G20 in Indonesia.

During their meetings, Sherman and Sannino reiterated that Washington and Brussels’ respective relations with Beijing were “multifaceted”.

They underscored the importance of the US and the EU maintaining continuous and close contact on their approaches on China. The two also shared their assessments of Beijing’s actions in the East and South China seas.

They emphasised “the strong joint transatlantic resolve in defending freedom, democracy and human rights worldwide”.

[There is a] strong resolve in defending freedom, democracy and human rights

WENDY SHERMAN AND STEFANO SANNINO