Europe still has no clear goal on China

AI Summary

Europe’s recent approach to China has combined threats of trade measures, parliamentary criticism, diplomatic engagement, and new economic security instruments. The article argues that the EU lacks a coherent set of goals and priorities, a vacuum China has been able to exploit.

This month alone, Europe has threatened China with a trade “kill switch”, rebuked it in parliament, sent its trade commissioner on a much-trumpeted trip to Beijing and announced three new economic security instruments. The sequence exposed a European Union that has no clear goal on China, no hierarchy of priorities and has reached no agreement on what it wants from Beijing or on what it would pay to get it. China has built its European policy around this vacuum. Its method rewards patience:...