The premise of this article is that European countries have no interest in managing China‘s rise and are not deeply concerned about unfair Chinese trade practices and cyberspionage. Instead of digging deeper into those concerns and attempts to build joint European approach /1
.. it presents a picture of Europe as as object that has to choose sides. That’s wrong. European countries must pursue their interests vis-a-vis China, and they broadly overlap with US interests as brought forward by many US experts and policy- makers. /2
What Europeans mostly disagree with is the more radical Trump approach which seems to be following a strategy of economic decoupling with China, not a strategy that wants to change its behavior. /3
It’s in the European interest to build a broader coalition that aims a) at making China a better economic partner, b) protects freedom of smaller countries in the region, c) keeps broader free and open global order alive and kicking. /3
Choice for Berlin, Paris, London is not between Trumpism and Chinese authoritarianism but between passivity and broader strategic initiatives aimed at building such a coalition. /4
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