PARIS: As two top European leaders meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, they will be focused on presenting a united European front in the face of Beijing’s efforts to divide the bloc.
Speaking to the Mercator Institute for China Studies and the European Policy Centre in Brussels, she had called relations between the European Union and China “more distant and more difficult in the last few years”. “I think one of the best things that can happen is a decoupling of these issues where you have economic and cultural ties, and then you have these geopolitical issues,” said Dr Dutt, noting that the meeting will likely not produce “anything concrete except for some big promises”.
In her speech, Ms von der Leyen had said that China has ramped up policies of disinformation, that it is using economics and trade in a coercive manner, and lamented issues regarding“We all understand that there are thorny issues in this relationship and that this is complicated, but highlighting them explicitly immediately before departure and making them more salient is not going to be helpful,” said Dr Dutt.
In the longer term, the relationship could help avoid “a conflict between rising powers and established powers”, if cooler heads prevail, added Dr Dutt.
Source: Energy Industry News (energyindustrynews.net)