The European Union has accused China – along with Russia – of trying to “reshape the global order in line with their interests” and “fostering a return to a sphere-of-influence logic”, in an explosive new position paper that contains some of the bloc’s strongest ever official criticism of Beijing.
The paper, which was adopted by the EU’s 27 foreign ministers on Monday without any announcement, accuses Beijing of being both a “key enabler” and “crucial enabler” of Russia’s war on Ukraine, language previously used by Nato.
In stark terms, the paper casts Russia and China as the two principal revisionist powers challenging European security and the international rules-based order.
“At the centre of this transformation lies the determination of some powers, Russia and China foremost among them, to establish regional dominance and reshape the global order in line with their interests, fostering a return to a sphere-of-influence logic,” read the document, which was written by the EU’s External Action Service – its de facto foreign office – as guidance for the bloc’s first security strategy, expected later this year.
This report comes despite a Financial Times article on Wednesday saying the bloc allowed Ukraine to spend €6bn in EU funds to buy drone components from China, showing the tension between the EU’s efforts to hold Beijing to account and Kyiv’s need for Chinese hardware.
The report was adopted without fanfare on Monday due to its controversial language, sources said.
The Chinese Mission to the EU did not respond to a request for comment. China has denied the widely held perception in Europe that it has taken Russia’s side, claiming to be neutral in the more-than-four-year war in Ukraine.
EU’s choice of words ‘crosses a major diplomatic threshold’, analyst says
The choice of words, according to Mikko Huotari, executive director of the Mercator Institute for China Studies, a German think tank, “crosses a major diplomatic threshold”.
“By explicitly designating China as a ‘key enabler’ of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the European Union has officially synchronised its foreign policy language with Nato’s harder-edged stance,” Huotari said.
“This moves Beijing out of the category of a passive diplomatic bystander and directly holds it accountable for supporting the forces undermining European territorial security.”
Previous guiding documents such as 2022’s Strategic Compass also spoke of the security challenges China is perceived to pose to Europe, but also included language around partnership, which is absent from the new paper, entitled “The Threats and Challenges We Face: Assessment of the EU’s Strategic Environment”.
The report comes soon after top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas said the EU has evidence that China has been training Russian troops for the battlefield in Ukraine, and as capitals haggle over the latest round of sanctions on Moscow, which is expected to target more Chinese entities.
“The increasingly clear language that the member states let the EU adopt to talk about China’s security threat to Europe in its role as Russia’s key enabler reflects not just growing frustration with Beijing’s unwillingness to listen but also growing clarity about the extent of China’s actions,” said Sense Hofstede, a Brussels-based expert on Chinese foreign policy at the Association for International Affairs, a Czech think tank.
Compared to a dozen negative mentions of China, the paper refers to the United States just twice, despite the fact that US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to seize Greenland, a giant Arctic territory of EU and Nato member Denmark.
“The long-standing US contribution to Europe’s defence is being reviewed, with expectations that Europeans assume greater responsibility for their own security. For the EU, this entails major consequences given the centrality of the transatlantic bond to our security, stability and prosperity over decades,” the paper read.
It added that “rising Chinese ambitions and assertiveness combined with strategic competition currently defining US-China relations will increasingly impact the EU’s security, competitiveness, and economic security and resilience”.
Strategic paper suggests China pushing for industrial dominance
On China, the authors pulled no punches. As Brussels and Beijing teeter on the brink of a trade war, the text suggests China is pursuing industrial dominance as a geostrategic lever.
“China’s asymmetric advantages with the EU, from trade imbalances to critical raw materials to technological advances in some areas, along with its willingness to use this as leverage against the EU and others in pursuit of its ambition of becoming the world’s leading power, makes China a critical long-term strategic challenge,” read the paper.
“China’s support for Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is a crucial enabler for Moscow. China will continue to seek to increase its influence in Europe.”
The document also called out “China’s increasingly assertive behaviour in the South and East China Seas and across the Taiwan Strait can have a growing impact on European and Indo-Pacific security, stability and prosperity”.
“Change of status quo around the Taiwan Strait would have a profound impact on global security,” it read.
Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the US and EU members, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
