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EU Observer (1 June 2023)

By PHILIPPE DAM AND SOPHIE RICHARDSON

Josep Borrell, the European Union's high representative for foreign affairs, in a recent commentary, offered a hint of how the EU may adjust its three-part policy towards the Chinese government ("partner, competitor, and systemic rival"). Borrel and EU heads of states will have another occasion to discuss EU's relations with China at the European Council in late June, before a possible EU-China Summit later this year.

And while Borrell comes closer than previously to acknowledging Chinese leader Xi Jinping's aspiration to "build a new world order", the prescriptions that follow are woefully tepid, especially on human rights.

Borrel characterized the EU's and Beijing's "differences" on values as "hardening". His proposed fix: "obstacles to the free flow of ideas and to the presence of Europeans in China must be removed". But he has nothing to say in this commentary about the need to pursue accountability for Chinese government crimes against humanity targeting Uyghurs and others, or about freeing Europeans, including the Swedish publisher Gui Minhai, wrongfully detained by the Chinese government.

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