China

Europe’s Sharpened Stance on China

China can expect some pushback from Europe in coming months, warns Mark Leonard of the European Council of Foreign Relations in this video. His data points leading to the coming sharp shift in the EU-China relations:

1- French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s meeting the Dalai Lama caused China to cancel the EU Summit.

2- At the Climate Summit in Copenhagen, both Europe and China blamed each other for the absence of a deal.

3- The Google vs. China conflict.

4- The execution of the British citizen Akmal Shaikh in China.

The Economist this week has a similar take:

There is, however, a new self-confidence these days in China’s familiar harangues about anything it deems sovereign. That is the second trend: China, after its successful passage through the financial crisis of late 2008, is more assertive and less tolerant of being thwarted—and not just over its “internal affairs”. From its perceived position of growing economic strength, China has been throwing its weight around. It played a central and largely unhelpful role at the climate-change talks in Copenhagen; it looks as if it will wreck a big-power consensus over Iran’s nuclear programme; it has picked fights in territorial disputes with India, Japan and Vietnam. At gatherings of all sorts, Chinese officials now want to have their say, and expect to be heeded.

These events and attitudes on the part of Beijing have caused a shift in Europe’s view of China, so Beijing should expect a pushback from Europe over the next years, Leonard said. This could mean a hardening of Europe’s approach to various issues like Iran, climate and currency.

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