At a forum held in Beijing on 21 September 2023, Wu Hongbo, China’s Special Representative for Europe, said that “it makes no sense for European states to view an important partner like China as a ‘systemic competitor'”. Speaking at the event, Wu urged Western representatives to understand China correctly.[1] In this regard, the Chinese top diplomat said:[2]
“Segregation is the baby of the USA. De-risking was invented in Europe and the concept of national security has become increasingly overstretched. China is a key partner in European co-operation and it is neither reasonable nor logical to see such an important partner as a systemic competitor.”
With these words, Wu drew attention to the banning of Huawei, the Chinese technology company at the centre of the US-China rivalry, from 5G networks. The Chinese diplomat said that no country has provided any evidence that Huawei threatens their national security.
Danish Ambassador to China Thomas Østrup Møller made the following statements on the subject:[3]
“The need to increase our resilience or reduce risk has arisen because of the energy crisis resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the disruption of supply chains during Covid. In addition, this kind of economic security thinking has also been a dominant theme in China for several years.”
“The strategy provides the means by which the federal government can actually work with China without jeopardising our way of life, sovereignty and prosperity,” said Patricia Flor, German Ambassador to China.[4]
Spanish Ambassador Rafael Dezcallar de Mazarredo also weighed in on the issue, saying that risk mitigation means eliminating overdependence in supply chains for strategic goods and taking into account security concerns:[5]
“All this is something that China has been doing for decades. I find it hard to understand why we should be criticised for doing the same thing that China is doing.”
Taking all these statements into account, it is clear that political affairs and geopolitical issues are intertwined with economic, economic and labour-based relations. At the same time, the definition of “systemic competitor” shows that the forum was mainly focussed on conflicts.
Concerns about China’s stance on the war in Ukraine were also voiced at this forum. Beijing voted overwhelmingly in favour of the United Nations (UN) resolution that “Moscow should immediately and unconditionally withdraw its troops from Ukraine”. However, in the eyes of the Western bloc, Beijing is not taking a tough enough stance against Moscow.
European Union (EU) Ambassador Albinana made the following statements on the subject:[6]
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has affected our relationship with China. The future of this war will continue to affect our relations until China condemns the aggression and demands that Russia publicly withdraw from the illegal and unjustified annexation and occupation of a sovereign country.”
In conclusion, it can be argued that the relations between China and Europe have developed on the basis of trade and that these relations have an impact on political relations. It can be argued that the relations in question proceed on the axis of interdependence and the biggest obstacle to the increase in tension is the said dependence relationship.
[1] “Chinese Envoy Takes Aim at Europe’s ‘De-Risking’, National Security Fears”, South China Morning Post, https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3235393/chinese-vice-president-han-zheng-tells-un-general-assembly-oppose-hegemonism?campaign=3235393&module=perpetual_scroll_0&pgtype=article, (Erişim Tarihi: 22.09.2023).
[2] “Chinese Envoy Takes Aim at Europe’s ‘De-Risking’, National Security Fears”, Yahoo Finance, https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinese-envoy-takes-aim-europes-093000907.html, (Erişim Tarihi: 22.09.2023).
[3] “Chinese Envoy Takes Aim at Europe’s ‘De-Risking’, National Security Fears”, South China Morning Post, https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3235393/chinese-vice-president-han-zheng-tells-un-general-assembly-oppose-hegemonism?campaign=3235393&module=perpetual_scroll_0&pgtype=article, (Erişim Tarihi: 22.09.2023).
[4] “EU Envoy Decries ‘Highest Deficit in History’ Ahead of China Trade Talks”, Financial Times, https://www.ft.com/content/60b305f7-96ba-49c2-9c82-38e40593234a, (Erişim Tarihi: 22.09.2023).
[5] “Chinese Envoy Takes Aim at Europe’s ‘De-Risking’, National Security Fears”, South China Morning Post, https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3235393/chinese-vice-president-han-zheng-tells-un-general-assembly-oppose-hegemonism?campaign=3235393&module=perpetual_scroll_0&pgtype=article, (Erişim Tarihi: 22.09.2023).
[6] Same page.
