In Brussels on Wednesday 26 May, Secretary General of the European External Action Service, Stefano Sannino, and the US Deputy Secretary of State, Wendy Sherman, held the first high-level meeting of the EU-US dialogue on China. This dialogue was created under the Trump administration, as proposed by the EU High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
“The discussion focused on the areas in which we compete with China, the areas in which we must challenge China and the areas in which we cooperate with China. So it is a multi-faceted agenda that we and the European Union are working on together”, explained Ms Sherman after the dialogue, in an interview with some media including EUROPE.
The Assistant Secretary of State reiterated that the objective was not to “ dominate” China or “hold them back” since “that is not in our interest at all”, but to uphold the rules-based international order to make sure that there is a level playing field.
When asked about the European position moving closer to the US position on China, Ms Sherman said the EU was “increasingly aligned” with the US. “I think, you know, five years ago, certainly a decade ago, we all had a different vision of [...] how China might develop. But what we have seen over the last years, and I think it is come clear and clear for all of us, including our European partners, is that China has a very aggressive strategy, that it does not always play by the rules of the international order, then it has a different vision for the future”, she explained.
More specifically, the discussions revolved around six pillars: resilience, reciprocity, security (especially in the South China Sea), human rights, multilateralism and engagement (e.g. on climate issues or the Iran nuclear deal).
According to the joint statement issued at the end of the dialogue, the two sides highlighted issues of shared concern, including among other things, ongoing human rights violations in Xinjiang and Tibet, the erosion of autonomy and democratic processes in Hong Kong, economic coercion, and disinformation campaigns. They also discussed the importance of Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the work of international organisations, including World Health Organization forums and the World Health Assembly.
Europeans and Americans have agreed to continue meetings in the framework of the China dialogue at senior official and expert levels, before the next high-level meeting will take place in winter 2021/2022, according to the joint communiqué.
Furthermore, both sides confirmed that the EU-US Summit will be held in Brussels on 15 June, the day after the NATO Summit. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)