Advertisement
Opinion | Biden can’t assume Europe is fully on board with US’ China policy
- While there is common history, values and interests across the Atlantic, Europe is diverse and will not blindly follow America’s lead
- Europeans merely want to trade and invest and are not bothered that much by China’s eventual rise to dominance
Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
23
The advent of the Biden administration has put one issue into sharper focus: Europe has to decide where to position itself between the United States and China. Geographically, that is clear: in the middle, and closer to Washington than to Beijing. But politically and economically?
Europe is diverse. Germany is the European Union’s strongest country, its China policy is decisive for Brussels. France is a close second. The UK has left the union and is still looking for its place in the sun as “Global Britain”. The EU High Representative can only do what the 27 member governments permit him to do.
European media and think tanks regard German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s China policy as primarily geared towards economic issues and too China-friendly. They assume that a new, post-Merkel government should and will stand up to China.
After Donald Trump’s electoral defeat, transatlanticists in Europe proclaimed that good cooperation with the US was again possible and President Joe Biden’s outstretched hand must courageously be grasped.
Just one month after the US presidential elections, the EU presented a “new transatlantic agenda for global change” which focused on the common history, values and interests of the EU and the US.
Merkel did not join this chorus. Undeterred by alarm bells and a hint from Biden’s future security adviser, she succeeded in sealing the political accord on the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment before the end of 2020.
Advertisement