The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, explained on Friday 5 May that the EU “should not be against the rise of China”.
“China will become a great power, like it or not, the important thing is how China will manage its power”, he explained during a debate at the ‘State of the Union’ in Florence.
Borrell said the EU must have its own way of facing China. “In the EU/US/China triangle, we are closer to Washington, certainly, but we have to have our own way and we are working on that”, he said, adding that he was preparing a report on the EU’s vision regarding China, to be presented at the European Council at the end of June.
According to Borrell, if China is a partner, a competitor and a rival, it is necessary to define what kind of rival. “Is China a threat for the national security of Europe like Russia? (…) We have never said that about China”, he said. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)