Following the G7 leaders' summit in Hiroshima, Japan, hyping up "economic coercion" and other issues aimed at China, the United States and Europe intend to take "joint actions" against China in many fields such as economy and trade, repeating some of the old tunes of "concern for China."
According to Reuters local time on May 30, from 30 to 31, the two-day fourth ministerial meeting of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Committee (TTC) will be held in Luleå, Sweden, including U.S. Secretary of State Blinken, European Commission Executive Vice President Vestager, U.S. Commerce Secretary Raimondo, U.S. Trade Representative Dai Qi and European Commission Executive Vice President and Trade Commissioner Dombrovskis.
In addition to discussing cooperation and differences between the two sides, "how to deal with China" will also be the focus of discussions, although the word "China" appears only twice in a 24-page draft communiqué at the meeting. The European edition of Politico News Network revealed that the United States and Europe have still failed to agree on a thorny issue, that is, the most fundamental issue in transatlantic relations - how to deal with China.
The report revealed that the European side initially limited the frequency of "China" in the draft communiqué, and alluded to China as a so-called "non-market economy", hoping to show that the EU won the negotiation over the United States. The United States then repeatedly referred to "China" and used tough language on China, which was later deleted by European officials and disappointed American officials.
Some US think tank experts believe that unlike what Americans imagine, the EU may not be willing to formulate an "anti-China policy" at all; Experts from EU think tanks believe that the TTC is still an "empty shell" at the trade level, unable to prevent or solve any meaningful transatlantic trade issues.
Screenshot of the Reuters report
The TTC originated during the US-EU summit in June 2021, when US President Joe Biden, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and European Council President Michel announced the creation of the TTC, declaring to strengthen U.S. and European leadership in technology and industry "through increased transatlantic trade and investment in emerging technology products and services."
According to reports, at the fourth ministerial meeting of the TTC, the United States and Europe will discuss cooperation in future technologies such as artificial intelligence, and the EU will also raise its own dissatisfaction with the tariff issue during the Trump administration and the green subsidies caused by the US Inflation Reduction Act.
Reuters said that a 24-page draft communiqué of the meeting outlined the themes of the meeting, and the United States and Europe plan to cooperate on setting minimum standards for artificial intelligence algorithms such as ChatGPT, as well as on export controls and investment monitoring against Russia.
It is worth noting that China will remain the main focus of the meeting, and some diplomats believe that Washington has pushed for the use of tough language on China in the draft communiqué to echo some of the rhetoric against China at the previous G7 leaders' summit.
At the same time, the meeting comes as the European Commission prepares to release a new "economic security strategy" that is expected to refer to the "complex and important" relationship between Europe and China, which is not in Europe's interests to decouple from China on the one hand, and regards China as a "competitor" on the other.
On May 26, local time, the European edition of "Politico News Network" reported that the meeting between the United States and Europe will still largely counter China's rise in various fields, from global trade to semiconductors, and then to the latest global cause - generative artificial intelligence. While senior U.S. and European officials will announce new plans, including closer cooperation on green development, the "tensions" surrounding China will also be pervasive.
Screenshot of the European edition of Politico News Network
Disagreements over China will rekindle the complication of relations between the European Union and the United States. According to a draft communiqué in the possession of the European edition of Politico News, the United States strongly hopes that its allies will take a tougher stance on China, urging the European Union to sign a pledge to condemn China's so-called "anti-competitive" and "harmful non-market policies."
However, the European Commission, for its part, found itself in a "dilemma". Many people, including the European Commission's von der Leyen, are ready to get tough on China and see it as a "geopolitical and economic threat," but some heavyweight EU members, including France, are reluctant to sever ties with China, an important trading partner, and some are even angry at the U.S. heavy-handed policy toward China, arguing that American companies benefit more than European companies.
The European edition of Politico News quoted as many as six diplomats involved in the talks as revealing that negotiators were mired in internal squabbles over details about China in the final communiqué of the meeting ahead of the start of the fourth ministerial meeting of the TTC.
An earlier draft communiqué alluded to China by limiting references to China to three places and strengthening economic and security cooperation in transatlantic relations in response to "economic coercion" from "non-market economies." One EU official said the approach was similar to "Control+F diplomacy," which searches for words on a computer keyboard, to determine whether the United States or the European Union won the round by looking up the number of references to China in the communiqué.
However, the U.S. side later added a draft communiqué that repeatedly referred to so-called "China's anti-competitive behavior" in its diplomatic language and outlined a new, formal "U.S.-EU relationship," claiming that it was a cooperation specifically aimed at thwarting China's economic power, and that such cooperation could extend to other allies.
Since then, an official on condition of anonymity at the European Commission said EU diplomats had removed such language during the final round of talks last week. Three other officials and diplomats, who also requested anonymity, also said it would be difficult for governments to join the "anti-China agreement" drawn up by the United States because of the lack of consensus on EU-China relations.
On September 29, 2021, the first meeting of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Committee (TTC) was held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Pictured from Blinken Twitter
Regarding the EU's attitude, two US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they were disappointed that EU officials had deleted the draft communiqué references to China that were closely related to von der Leyen's hawkish public remarks, and they also questioned what Von der Leyen's purpose was in taking a tougher stance on China without strong EU commitment.
"The EU is actually unwilling to formulate an 'anti-China policy'." Emily Benson, a trade expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said: "Americans tend to think that Europe is supporting their China policy, so I don't know if they agree with me." ”
The European edition of Politico News concluded bluntly saying that for some, the failure, combined with ongoing friction between the two sides of the Atlantic over trade relations with China, darkened the meeting between U.S. and European officials in Luleå, Sweden.
David Kleimann, a trade expert at the Bruegel Institute in Belgium, admits that the TTC remains an "empty shell" at the trade level, with neither the ability to deter nor solve any meaningful transatlantic trade problems.
For some time, in order to maintain its own hegemony, the United States has generalized the concept of national security and abused export control measures to restrict exports to China. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning previously pointed out in response to an inquiry that the United States is not only suppressing and containing China, but also depriving developing countries of the right to scientific and technological progress and normal development, and suppressing these countries at the low end of the industrial chain forever. This kind of selfish and self-serving technology bullying behavior is unfair and non-compliant, undermines the stability of the global production and supply chain, is not conducive to the development of the world economy, and will eventually eat itself back.
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