President Xi Jinping’s keynote address at the World Economic Forum in Davos this year gave the world the strongest sense yet of how China wants to be seen in the global order. The EU must remain committed to unified negotiation if it is to achieve the results it wants and protect its values on the global stage. Member states that seek to opportunistically negotiate side deals with China are only undercutting themselves – allowing China to lobby the EU through them. A recent American policy report is advising “fair reciprocity” with China in areas ranging from trade and investment to academic exchange and media. These are exactly the sort of areas where the EU, acting as one, can make a difference. There is a risk that recent moves by the EU and member states towards coordinated and demanding policies on trade and investment are scuttled by breakaway EU member states that seek to bilaterally woo Chinese investors. Screening foreign direct investment on the grounds of preventing technology leaks, and on defence concerns, is not the same as shutting the door to China. The other is the US rejection of TPP and Trump’s economic pledge to put “America first”. One is hostility to Chinese investment – a trend that is part of the so-called populist backlash against globalisation. Today, it is at risk of being torn apart by different impulses of varying intensity. Halfway between values and interests, Europe should also strive to maintain a liberal free trading system – something that still forms the heart of the European economic model. Work to protect the liberal free trading system Europe should take care to ensure its shift in priorities doesn’t make it blind to Chinese infractions. In doing so, Europe should be careful not to let China inadvertently off the hook through pre-occupation with the state of affairs in the US. The US has become a priority as Europe attempts to feel out how it can bring back the Trump administration from isolationism. The appearance of Trump, and the more general questioning of globalisation by large sectors of Western societies, means that Europe has to adopt a Janus-faced approach, looking both east and west, to preserve its values. This is even more true of the post-1989 ambitions for a global liberal order. But this fickle approach is simply incompatible with principled implementation of international law and global norms. China’s political system affords opportunities for sectoral cooperation when it matches Chinese interest. The second temptation that must be resisted is to think that China could somehow replace the US as a dependable bastion of a free-trading and rules-based world order, let alone of democratic values. After all, there is a strong rationale for conflict avoidance in China, and the country would be the biggest loser from a major setback to globalisation. China must be challenged to push forward in those areas. In practical terms, this means that the EU should hold China to account on the recent pronouncements made by Xi Jinping and his government regarding multilateralism, the rule of law, free trade, the opening-up of the economy, and reciprocity. Washington should also be reminded of this. As tenuous as the EU’s moral high ground may be, it needs to preserve its values and those it has historically shared with the US. The first is the temptation to move from the illusion that China has become “more like us” to a cynical strategy where Europe becomes “more like them” as a means of building bridges and cooperating. In the current political climate of eroding values and principles, there are two temptations that EU member states need to resist. The EU should hold China to its word on this. Faced with Donald Trump, Xi has sent a clear message about his country's commitment to internationalism. Whether in climate talks, international arbitrations, or on the topic of open markets, China resists any parts of the order that infringe on its sovereignty.įacing an increasingly interest-driven China, and a US in retreat from the international order, the EU must stand by its values if it wants to protect them. While China finds little to criticise in globalisation, which has fuelled its rapid economic rise, it has an uneasy relationship with the international order, picking and choosing what parts of it to engage with.Ĭhina's governance model at home is fundamentally at odds with the liberal international order. However, he fell short of pronouncing the same commitment to the international order. Xi Jinping took a bold stance at this year's Davos summit, claiming that China could be the leader and protector of global free trade.
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