Right or wrong side of history? — crunch time for EU

Ever since the Democrats lost the presidential election in the United States in November, some pro-US politicians in the European Union are worried that the return of the "America First" administration of the Republicans would leave the bloc high and dry on issues related to China, on which the EU tried to hold the line with the previous US administration.

That the current US administration has singled out the EU as a party exploiting the US through its sizable trade surplus has justified such concerns, prompting a quick about-face on China. The country is no longer viewed as a systemic challenge or strategic threat, but rather as an important party that they say the EU should work with to jointly address global challenges.

The EU thus started mending its trade ties with China to remove the obstacles the former US administration created for their relations. This, in effect, has provided the EU with leverage to seize more initiative in its trade talks with the US.

At the just-concluded G7 Summit in Canada, both the US and the EU leaders spoke positively about the US-EU trade talks and it seems the two sides are close to agreeing to a "good and fair" deal. This has prompted some EU leaders at the summit to revert to their previous tough rhetoric on China again.

But the extent to which European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen went in a bid to cajole the US was still beyond the expectations of many. The chief of the EU executive body accused China of "weaponizing" its leading position in producing and refining critical raw materials, and of ignoring global trade rules to undercut competitors. "When we focus our attention on tariffs between partners, it diverts our energy from the real challenge — one that threatens us all."

She warned of what she called "a new China shock," accusing Beijing of flooding global markets with cheap State-subsidized products, and urged the G7 countries to tackle its dominance in the raw materials sector.

She even brought a prop to the meeting: a permanent magnet, which is crucial to Europe's core industries, such as car and wind turbine production.

Yet the summit's joint statement stopped short of a name-check of China, as she pushed for, indicating most of the G7 leaders don't buy the "new China shock" theory she is peddling.

As the spokesperson of the Chinese embassy in Canada said, China's economic achievements are the result of following international trade norms and market economy rules, and are attributable to its mega-sized market, complete industrial system, abundant human resources and fierce market competition.

The EU and China just commemorated the 50th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic ties last month. Over those years, China and the EU have become comprehensive strategic partners, two major forces promoting multipolarization, two major markets supporting globalization and two major civilizations advocating diversity. All sensible minds on both sides will agree that China-EU relations have become one of the most influential bilateral relations in the world, contributing greatly to enhancing the well-being of their peoples, and promoting world peace and development.

As partners not rivals, and opportunities not challenges to each other, China and the EU should deepen their strategic communication, enhance their mutual understanding and trust, strengthen their partnership, expand their mutual openness, and properly handle their differences.

Most of the EU leaders recognize that the truly harmful market-distorting practices that do the biggest damage to the multilateral trading regime are the practices of imposing unjustified tariffs, unilateral trade bullying and politicizing and weaponizing economic and trade issues. They also know that it is not China that is guilty of such behavior, and it is not only the EU that is a victim of such behavior.

China urges the EU to remain committed to multilateralism and inclusive economic globalization, to uphold fairness and justice and oppose unilateralism and bullying, and to join forces with it to address global challenges and jointly build an equitable and orderly world. In doing so, it is encouraging the EU to stand on the right side of history.