The EU should view China primarily as a competitor with limited areas of potential engagement, the bloc’s foreign ministers have been advised by the EU’s diplomatic service ahead of talks about the state of play of the relations with Beijing on Monday (17 October).

The non-paper sent to member states and seen by EURACTIV makes it clear China has become an even stronger global competitor for the EU, the US and other like-minded partners.

“It is, therefore, essential to assess how best to respond to current and foreseeable challenges,” it says, adding that those are likely “to widen the divergence between China’s and our own political choices and positions”.

The recommendation comes as EU foreign ministers are expected to discuss recalibrating the bloc’s strategy towards Beijing on Monday.

The document draws a grim picture of the EU-China relationship since 2019, when the bloc verbalised its strategy towards Beijing, followed by trade disputes and sanctions.

Beyond the assessment that the “partner-competitor-systemic rival” designations might be outdated, it lists areas of limited potential cooperation with China that are summed up in only one paragraph.

“We were a bit more focused on the partner-part, now we should focus more on the rival-part,” one EU diplomat said.

According to the document, those would include food security, climate change, humanitarian aid, disaster risk reduction, and health.

This represents a significant change in tone compared to the existing policy, which has referred to China as the EU’s “strategic partner in addressing global and international challenges”, according to several diplomats.

At the same time, the EU’s diplomatic service advises the EU to “intensify its efforts to reduce vulnerabilities” in technology, maritime and space security, innovation, and by fighting disinformation.

The advice comes a few days before EU leaders are set to discuss EU-China relations later this week.

[Edited by Alice Taylor]

Source: Εuractiv.com