Responding to Chinese amb Zhang Ming, @WiegandEU, EU's top foreign policy maker on Asia, began by citing... Deng Xiaoping's call for 實事求是 (seek the truth from the fact). "China is indeed EU's 2nd biggest trading partner. At the same time we have to be able to ask questions...
Two questions he raised:
- How many companies can operate in China outside a joint venture
- How many European researchers can access China's top research programmes
EU has adopted a "more realist" approach since March 2019. "The wind has been shifting also nationally."
"Europeans are sceptical realists. The outbreak of covid 19 and the management of the crisis increased US-China rivalry and, yes, also the imposition of the national security law on Hong Kong has affected our relationship." @WiegandEU
"China's priority remains managing its relationship w/ US. But China's renewed interest towards Europe may find some origins in precisely these tensions. For the EU ...
... while we maintain close relations with China & the US, we are unequivocally not equidistant. Transatlantic relationships runs close and deep whatever the policy differences may be." @WiegandEU
"2020 was always going to be a pivotal year for EU-China relations. It is the year where we would work to get China to live up to the commitments it made during the 2019 summit" attended by Li Keqiang in Brussels, @WiegandEU said. "The year where we would really find ...
"... our engagement with China through the negotiation of a new strategic agenda of cooperation; the year where we would strengthen our resilience, our leverage by implementing the joint communication with its implication for internal market decisions."
"It is clear we will not tackle successfully climate change without China – the emitter of 28.5% of the world's greenhouse gases. And the European Union accounts for 8%." @WiegandEU
"Under the EU's one China policy, we recognise the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government of China, but we also pursue friendly relations and close cooperation with Taiwan in a wide range of areas," @WiegandEU said. "The EU-Taiwan relations remain excellent."
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