Opinion | As US-led globalisation falters, China-Europe relations can flourish

Western leaders committed to the rules-based order must promote dialogue with Beijing while quietly upholding values now rejected by Washington

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Published: 8:30pm, 24 Mar 2025

Not so long ago, governments in the capitals of the Western world were devoting considerable time and energy to readjusting their relationship with China. The shift was motivated by concerns that Beijing’s foreign and trade policies under President Xi Jinping could pose a security threat.

Two concepts were primarily on the table: “de-risking”, which can be understood as risk minimisation, and “decoupling”, a policy aiming for complete disentanglement of the Chinese and American economies.

Despite the lobbying of more hawkish voices in the debate, mainstream politicians in Washington, London, Paris and Berlin opted for “de-risking” simply because China’s enormous market remains too important to miss out on. Moreover, some believed that talk of “decoupling” would contradict the spirit of globalisation that has driven free trade over the past four decades.

It is clear that China’s economic rise over the past few decades has been nothing short of a miracle. Yet, with most people focused on their daily endeavours, the immensity of this achievement might have gone unnoticed for many – even in China itself, where the economy, after decades of breakneck expansion, is now settling into more modest annual growth rates.

Meanwhile, in the Atlantic world – specifically North America and Europe – globalisation has not only been understood as a way to achieve prosperity but also as a vehicle to promote the underlying values of democracy. Traditionally, such values have been considered to provide the best framework for an innovative and prosperous economy. Thus, the narrative was that economic success can only be built in a free society.

That view was largely sponsored by the United States, which despite its own checkered balance sheet with regard to human rights, still captured the imagination of many around the world as the place where everyone could, in theory, achieve the American dream and rise from rags to riches through hard work and determination.