In the Trump 2.0 era, conflicts between the EU and the US have increased, affecting the development of Europe's relations with China; some Chinese scholars have observed that the EU's positioning towards China and China-EU relations has changed, placing increasing emphasis on the competitiveness of China-EU relations and also viewing China as part of an opposing camp to some extent.
Xin Hua, director of the EU Research Center at Shanghai International Studies University, made the above assessment of China-EU relations at the seminar 'New Situation of US-EU Relations in the Trump 2.0 Era' held by the center and the Shanghai European Studies Society on July 4.
Xin Hua stated that compared to Biden's repeated emphasis that Europe is the most important strategic asset for the US, since Trump took office at the beginning of this year, there have been more conflicts between the US and EU, and competition in the economic and technological fields has increased. The mutual coordination and communication mechanisms established between both sides have now basically disappeared.
The strategic perceptions between the US and EU have also changed, no longer viewing each other through the lens of allies. The Trump administration believes that Europe's liberalism, progressivism, and pluralism have gone astray; the EU believes that the mercantilism and trade protectionism policies promoted by Trump are undermining Europe’s economic and political stability, hence it must also 'de-risk' from the US.
In such a situation, Xin Hua pointed out that the EU decision-making body and European political elites have developed a triple anxiety in the economic and technological fields: anxiety about the competitiveness of European research and technology companies lagging behind, resilience anxiety in the face of rapidly changing global situations, and resource anxiety surrounding key minerals and data.
What impact does this have on China-EU relations? Xin Hua analyzes that in the 2019 China Strategy Outlook report, the EU positioned China as a 'partner, competitor, and systemic rival'. However, now, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and China-US competition have completely changed the EU's positioning towards China, and competitiveness has become dominant in China-EU relations. 'The EU now feels that China is, to some extent, a member of an opposing camp.'#日内交易策略