“China wants to become the new global superpower, and it will do so at our expense. It is unthinkable to equate it with the United States in terms of our natural alliances in the world. It is urgent to develop a real European policy towards China, together with our democratic partners around the world”, said Manfred Weber MEP, Chairman of the EPP Group, on the occasion of today’s plenary debate on the need for a coherent strategy for EU-China relations.
“In order to finally realise the indispensable European awakening, we already have many instruments at our disposal, notably in the field of security and defence, which are only waiting to be used. What has been lacking in recent years is not tools, but above all a strong, unanimous and simultaneous political will on the part of our Member States”, Weber stressed.
The Group also reiterated its support for Taiwan.
“Our policy towards China is clear: cooperate where possible; compete where needed; confront where necessary. This can continue indefinitely, but we have two red lines – don’t arm Russia, and don’t invade Taiwan. Russia made a catastrophic mistake in Ukraine. Let’s hope China does not make a similar one. The EU needs to be more autonomous, but if China attacks, the EU will eventually side with its ally, the United States”, commented Radosław Sikorski MEP, the author of the EPP Group Position Paper on China and Chair of the European Parliament’s Delegations for the relations with USA.
