Ambassador Phil Reeker, Head of the US State Department's Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, met on Friday 24 July with several EU representatives, including Gunnar Wiegand, the Director General for Asia and the Pacific at the European External Action Service, to discuss the topic of China, among other things.
In a telephone interview with the press on 23 July, Mr Reeker felt that his exchanges with European representatives would provide an opportunity to work on some kind of mechanism for how both sides would proceed with the Transatlantic China Dialogue (see EUROPE 12514/25, 12506/7).
Mr Reeker described the dialogue as “a new mechanism for discussing and analysing the concerns that the transatlantic community has about the threats that China poses to some of our shared democratic values, the threats to the international rules-based order”.
In his view, the dialogue could meet “over time”, “perhaps a level below ministerial level”, to share ideas and viewpoints. It should therefore allow a better understanding of each person's position, without necessarily implying a decision making process.
Numerous topics could be on the table: security of 5G networks, intellectual property, human rights, including the situation of Muslim minorities, the situation in Hong Kong, disinformation, and China's role in the post-Covid-19 revival.
“We hope this will be sort of action-oriented and lead to some more coordinated policy outcomes that can advance our shared interests on both sides of the Atlantic”, the Ambassador added. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)