Unlike German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the beginning of November, EU Council President Charles Michel did not have his own doctor with him on his trip to China. A local doctor therefore carried out the obligatory PCR corona test at the airport in Beijing, which opened the way for Michel to China’s party and head of state Xi Jinping. In Brussels, there were suspicions that it was not negligent to leave the Chinese with their own DNA – just as the Belgian’s political abilities are repeatedly questioned. Can Michel do world politics?
“Improving cooperation, handling conflicts better,” said Michel as the aim of his visit to Beijing, although the conflicts have recently come to the fore. Michel, who as Council President represents the 27 EU member states, was the first foreign politician to speak to Xi Jinping since the Chinese authorities cracked down on nationwide protests against Covid policies. This added explosiveness to the visit.
They talked about “the different experiences in dealing with the pandemic and the corresponding reactions in society,” said Michel. When asked whether he had protested to Xi about the way the demonstrations were now being dispersed, Michel replied that he had referred to the universal validity of fundamental and human rights, including freedom of assembly.
He expressly appreciated Xi’s willingness to resume the human rights dialogue between China and the EU. In the past, however, human rights organizations had repeatedly criticized the dialogue as a meaningless obligatory exercise and even called for its suspension. As a precautionary measure, Xi Jinping forbade any interference “in internal affairs” of China, according to the Chinese media.
In addition, Xi warned the Europeans against “all forms of a new Cold War”. Ideological confrontations must be overcome. China’s CP itself, however, has been invoking ideological opposition to the liberal democracies of the West in internal publications for years. The CP sees itself in a competition between systems, and its propaganda praises its own system as superior: “The East is rising, the West is on the decline” is a frequently used slogan.
This is one of the reasons why Europe has recently been trying to find a tougher course against the rising power, which is increasingly trying to reshape the international order. A position paper was discussed in the Council a few weeks ago, which states that China can hardly be seen as a partner anymore, but is a strategic rival in most important policy areas.
Dangerous strategic dependencies
On the way to realizing Xi Jinping’s “Chinese Dream”, China is still dependent on goods and know-how from the West. Especially in view of increasing US sanctions, especially in the high-tech sector, China is keen to prevent Europeans and Americans from closing ranks. Partly with success. In view of the visits to Beijing by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and EU Council President Michel, Washington is nervously observing, writes Noah Barkin from the Rhodium think tank in Berlin, “how the European heads of state and government stumble over each other in order to strike up a conversation with Xi, who suddenly advocates shaking hands, smiles and dusted promises of a win-win cooperation is available”.
Michel paid tribute to the European-Chinese trade relations and called for an end to the discrimination against foreign investors in China, but at the same time it has long been the EU’s plan to reduce economic dependence on China. The EU Commission has identified more than 130 product categories in systemically important fields such as aviation, health, energy and the digital economy in which the EU has dangerous strategic dependencies. More than half of the import volume of these products originates in China.
As for the Ukraine war, there was nothing new in Beijing. Europe “counts” on China, Michel said, to stop Russia’s work of destruction in Ukraine. Xi reiterated his well-known position that nuclear threats are “irresponsible and highly dangerous”. Apart from that, peace talks are necessary. To date, China has not distanced itself from the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, the state-controlled media and heavily censored social media channels are spreading the Russian perspective on the war.