From the Jamestown Foundation's China Brief, April 11:
Executive Summary:
- Beijing sees a strategic window of opportunity to drive a wedge between the United States and Europe and improve its economic and trading relationship with the European Union.
- Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Party’s International Department have used a number of bilateral channels in the last two months to encourage European interlocutors to promote Beijing’s preferences at the European level.
- Some experts in the People’s Republic of China are skeptical that Beijing can successfully persuade Europe to pivot away from the United States but nevertheless view attempting to do so as a worthwhile course of action.
- Certain statements from senior EU officials and other EU member-state politicians indicate a willingness to entertain Beijing’s overtures.
“A certain strategic window” (一定的战略窗口期). That is how two scholars describe the opportunity for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to deepen its ties with Europe amid current tensions with the United States. The argument comes from an article published in the journal World Affairs (世界知识) in which the authors—one of whom runs the Centre for European Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai—write that the international system is “undergoing the most profound strategic transformation since the collapse of the bipolar pattern” (正经历着自两极格局瓦解以来最深刻的战略转型). They suggest that the PRC and Europe might be able to get over their “values barrier” (价值观藩篱) and use their economic and trade exchanges as “ballast” (压舱石) to help alleviate Europe’s current crisis (World Affairs, April 1).
This view is one of many currently being debated within the PRC system, but it has traction. Some more measured voices in the PRC’s academic community evince doubts about the Beijing’s ability to capitalize on this perceived opportunity. However, there is little disagreement over whether or not this strategy should be pursued. A survey of high-level statements and bilateral talking points between the PRC and European governments and the European Union (EU) indicate that Beijing has intensified its long-running attempts to divide the continent’s democracies from the United States. From the European side, certain reported statements suggest a degree of receptivity to these overtures.
Beijing Pushes Message to EU via Member States
The tone for Beijing’s approach to Europe was set by President Xi Jinping in a January 15 call with European Council President António Costa—the week before Donald Trump was inaugurated and almost three months prior to the White House’s series of tariff announcements were made. In the readout published by the People’s Daily, Xi made three key points. First, that the PRC has always recognized Europe as an important pole in a multipolar world and supports the strategic autonomy of the European Union; second, that the PRC and Europe have no fundamental conflicts of interest or geopolitical contradictions and are partners that can contribute to each other’s successes; and third, that the tougher and more complicated the international situation is, the more the PRC and Europe must “uphold the original spirit of establishing diplomatic relations” (秉持建交初心). The readout adds that Costa agreed the two “should cooperate rather than compete” (应当合作而不是竞争) (People’s Daily, January 15)....
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