Josep Borrell, the head of the European Union’s diplomacy, stated that the EU needs to balance trade relations with China to reduce its dependence on China.
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the Commission for a Stronger Europe wrote about this in his blog on the occasion of the publication of his book, “Europe between two wars.”
According to Borrel, this rebalancing is urgent. The chief of the EU diplomacy pointed out that last year’s trade deficit with China amounted to a “staggering” 291 billion euros, which is 1.7% of EU GDP.
The top EU diplomat noted that only last month the Chinese government unveiled plans for significant investment in high-tech manufacturing, which means, Borrell added, that the EU’s tech industry will face even fiercer competition in the coming years.
“It is crucial that we protect our industry from unfair competition. We have already started to do this for our electric vehicles, solar panels, and other zero-balance industries,” Borrell stated.
At the same time, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy warned against confrontation with China, despite the fact that “our values and political systems are significantly different, and we have opposing views on the universality of human rights.”
“We have grown too interdependent for that. And cooperation with China is necessary to address the major global challenges of our time, such as climate change,” Borrell stated.
Earlier, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated that the United States had warned China of the consequences of its banks and companies helping Russia in the war against Ukraine and was ready to respond to the sharp rise in cheap exports from China.
The day before, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrived in China for a three-day visit, saying he would try to level the playing field for German companies in China.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz criticized China for supporting Russia, which is waging a war of aggression against Ukraine.
During a trip to Shanghai, Scholz said that “no one should help,” referring to the increase in Chinese exports to Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
According to media reports, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will travel to China in the coming months as she seeks to reset her country’s relations with China after Rome withdrew from Beijing’s controversial One Belt, One Road global investment initiative last year.
