On Friday 1 June, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke of their intention to strengthen cooperation on foreign policy. The EU and China will meet again at their 20th EU-China summit in Beijing next month.
"It is important for the EU and China to deepen our comprehensive strategic partnership", Wang Yi said at their high level strategic dialogue in Brussels. "We must step up our cooperation and our coordination on international affairs to safeguard together our multilateral system, to work on the political resolution of sensitive regional issues and on the reform and improvement of the system of government, and to inject more stability and positive energy into the whole world", the Chinese minister said.
For Mogherini, the current "period of turbulence and geopolitical uncertainty" makes EU-China cooperation "all the more important". In her view, these two global actors have the joint responsibility of working together "to preserve, or rather to build, a cooperative rules-based global order in many different fields".
Mogherini and Wang Yi discussed the Iranian issue, reiterating their support for the preservation of the Iran nuclear deal. In Mogherini's view, the EU and China have good cooperation on the implementation of nuclear-related commitments or on the economic aspects of the implementation of the deal. "There is full coordination between China, the European Union and others in the world to guarantee that Iran can continue benefiting from the economic benefits that came from the agreement and will continue in the weeks to come", she added. "No agreement is perfect (...) The joint plan of action needs to be followed and, at the same time, through consultation, a new platform needs to be established to discuss new developments and emerging concerns", Wang Yi added.
Mogherini and Wang Yi also spoke about the situation on the Korean peninsula. Wang Yi hoped the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, and US President Donald Trump could meet "quickly" and that this might produce positive efforts.
Their discussion was expected to continue after their meeting with press, notably on Afghanistan, the situation of the Rohingya Muslims, the Middle East, Syria and Africa, according to Mogherini. But neither Mogherini nor Wang Yi mentioned the issue of the South China Sea. The arbitration court, which is fully supported by the EU, concluded that Beijing did not have "historic rights" justifying its claims to sovereignty in the South China Sea, in the face of the Philippines (see EUROPE 11593).
And while Wang Yi spoke about human rights, a subject of disagreement between the two parties, Mogherini did not mention a word on this issue. Yang Wi stated that Brussels and Beijing would continue their dialogue "to improve mutual understanding and useful cooperation".
Joint commitment to preserve and reform WTO
As regards economic relations, Mogherini reaffirmed to Wang Yi the EU's commitment to reach "an ambitious and balanced result" in the ongoing negotiations for a bilateral investment agreement. These negotiations are going around in circles in their market access phase (see EUROPE 11801). "We were both extremely positive as to the outlook of continuing this work", she assured.
Both also confirmed the support of the EU and China for the WTO as the "centre" of the rules-based multilateral trading system, and their commitment to co-operate on reform to help the WTO meet the new challenges arising in the trade world.
The EU and China also agreed to extend their cooperation under the EU-China Connectivity Platform, setting out the next steps on identifying joint projects in this field to create synergies between China's One Belt One Road Initiative and the EU's own approach on sustainable connectivity between Europe and Asia. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant and Emmanuel Hagry)