A united EU: bad deal for China?
- Source: Global Times
- [22:44 November 30 2009]
- Comments
GT: China and the EU both think highly of their respective relations with the US. What is the pattern of the three sides' relations?
Ding: British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband used to say that if the EU could not strengthen its unity, it will eventually be marginalized by China and the US. His words reflected EU's concern about closer China-US relations.
It's true that China devotes a lot of attention to the US. The relationship between the world's largest developing country and the more powerful developed country concerns the well-being of the two peoples, and the stability and development of the Asia-Pacific region.
But this does not mean that China- EU relations are less important than China-US relations. The EU has been China's No. 1 trade partner for four years. The EU is important to China, and China disagrees with the idea of a so-called G2.
China should not worry that the EU and the US, which share the same values and ideology, will unite to harm China's interests.
It is national interests, not ideology, which plays the key role in international relations. Actually, the EU and the US have many differences. For example, during the recent financial crisis, Europe was the first to blame the US.
In addition, although the EU has similar economic strength to the US, the US is not willing to see the EU gain an equal position to it. Over issues like sending reinforcements to Afghanistan and Iraq, the two sides have also quarreled.
China and the EU both know that ideological differences could not be eliminated, but both sides have no intention to change the other's ideology. What is important is that China needs the EU, and the EU needs China, too.
Geeraerts: I deeply understand why China does not like the term "G2." It is because it pushes China to the foreground of the world stage. Chinese philosophy is cautious, seeking long-term, gradual and stable development.
There is no doubt that China is becoming more and more important. But the term of "G2" might be more or less misleading, since there are no fundamental roots for it.
However, in respects of the internal structure of international system, national capacity and potential ambitions, China and the US both belong to the first echelon, and the EU is likely to join.
But the EU has to have a capable and convincing foreign policy. What the EU is lacking most is strategic positioning. For the EU, how to find its own strategic position in the emerging world political order is essential.
As a European, I support a "G3," but on what basis could the EU join the first echelon?
I hope the newly appointed EU president and foreign policy chief could adopt new measures to strengthen EU's ability to coordinate and organize policy, and that the member states can coordinate strategically.
The EU needs to implement concerted diplomatic action toward China. It is a matter of finding a remedy against the kind of diplomatic schizophrenia in which shortsighted policies of the member states counteracted the proselytizing European Commission.
