China has grown stronger in recent years under its leader Xi Jinping, and the U.S. media has analyzed how even Europe, which has been reluctant to anger Beijing in the past, has begun to move closer to Washington’s hard-line approach to China, in addition to the United States.
The Wall Street Journal reports that in March 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping traveled to Paris to meet with French President Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and then-European Union Executive Committee President Ronco. An official at the meeting recalled that after a champagne toast, Xi asked his counterpart about an EU policy report describing China as a systemic adversary, “Are you in Europe serious?
Merkel then rounded off with a compliment, saying it represented a European recognition of China’s growing power and influence, while Ronco joked that the EU could not reach a consensus on China, and only Macron said bluntly that “it is serious, you are adversaries.
Xi Jinping’s power has become increasingly unassailable at home. He has been able to silence dissidents and raise his reputation by preaching that a rising China should be bold enough to assert its interests. In his view, China’s greatest challenge comes not at home, but from the world, especially from countries whose perceptions of Beijing have changed dramatically in just a few years.
The Pew Research Center, a U.S. think tank, interviewed more than 14,200 respondents from 14 advanced economies from June to August this year, and there was an overwhelming lack of confidence in Xi Jinping’s “ability to deal positively with world affairs”.
The Wall Street Journal believes that in addition to the bipartisan consensus in the United States to be tough on China, these countries, which were reluctant to anger Beijing in the past, are now moving closer to Washington, supporting restrictions on China involving technology and sensitive infrastructure.
The Xi Jinping regime’s response in the early stages of this year’s outbreak, Beijing’s crackdown on the Uighur minority in Xinjiang and pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong, combined with the growing competitiveness of Chinese companies, have upset foreign leaders, and the Communist Party’s “war wolf” diplomacy has struck a chord with many in the political and business community.
Nicolas Chapuis, the EU ambassador to Beijing, told an energy forum earlier this month, “What has happened in the last year is that the goodwill and support for China in Europe and around the world has plummeted; I want to tell all my Chinese friends that you have to take this seriously.
Europe’s unease with Xi began in 2018, when heightened tensions between the EU and the Trump administration were felt by some to be potentially bringing Europe closer to China.
But people familiar with the matter recalled that at that meeting of Chinese, German, French and EU leaders last March, as the waiters were clearing away the plates, Xi’s words changed to say that the Beijing model of governance would flourish in an era of free trade and globalization, adding that Europe was in trouble because of “slow decision-making,” with income inequality fueling populism and Britain’s exit from the European Union, stepping on the toes of European landowners.
Two officials who were present at the meeting revealed that Rongke immediately retorted “what you call slow, we call it democracy”.
Early last year, an EU policy document came out saying that China is not only a partner and a competitor, but also a “systematic adversary”. A source familiar with the situation said that this tone shocked Chinese diplomats in the EU. They looked up the word “rival” in the dictionary to understand precisely what it meant, and asked for an explanation of “what the EU means by enemy in terms of the word rival.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, one of the most vocal voices in the EU, had been hoping to improve relations between Europe and China, but her position has become even weaker as Europe becomes more suspicious of China.
A European-Chinese video conference in Leipzig in September was originally focused on trade, but one of the participants, EU official Charles Michel, put pressure on human rights. Xi also cited statistics showing a 10 percent increase in anti-Semitic cases in Germany in recent years, an outbreak of African-American human rights demonstrations across the United States and a large number of refugees drowning in the Mediterranean Sea, adding that “we are not trying to preach, but no one’s bottom is pure.
A few weeks later, Michele spoke with Secretary of State Pompeo on the phone to discuss their common goal: the United States and Europe should work together to deal with the Chinese Communist Party.
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