STRASBOURG — Policymakers across the political spectrum are coalescing around a stronger approach to the European Union's relationship with China — one that goes beyond trade measures. A report from the Committee on Foreign Affairs on the EU-China political relationship paints China not just as an economic foe but also a geopolitical one that is undercutting European security. The European Parliament will vote on the report on Wednesday, just in time for Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič's trip to Beijing on Thursday, where he will meet with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.
"I want him to go there with the strongest possible mandate from this house," Hilde Vautmans, the report's author, said in a debate on Tuesday evening. "Europe has economic power. It’s time to use it." The remarks echo those made by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron in a joint letter earlier this week, advocating that the European Commission be handed more powers to restrict or even cut off imports from countries that create "severe and systematic distortions" in the EU.
While some MEPs hailed the French-German joint approach as proof of a unified position, Polish MEP Mariusz Kamiński from the European Conservatives and Reformists said creating "pragmatic economic ties is not only cynical, but irresponsible or outright stupid." China is a "communist dictatorship that poses a threat to the free world," he continued. He's not alone in that sentiment, as for many lawmakers, simply tackling Chinese overcapacity isn't enough. The Commission needs to address China's growing human rights abuses, escalations in the Taiwan Strait, and its role in the war in Ukraine, they said.
"We have to recognize that China is behaving in a way that is endangering our interests. Not just on trade but on security and defense," said Spanish MEP Nicolás Pascual de la Parte from the center-right European People's Party. "The human rights situation has not improved, but it has disappeared from our agenda in recent years." The lawmakers called out Beijing's treatment of the Uyghur minority group in Xinjiang, which China has systemically placed in camps and prisons and persecuted.
The Parliament stopped just short of calling the action a genocide in a 2024 resolution, saying it amounts "to crimes against humanity." Others like the EPP's Michael Gahler called out Beijing's encroachment on the island of Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory. China's role in propping up the Russian economy while it fights Ukraine also received plenty of airtime. The issues diverged, but the MEPs used Tuesday's debate to call out the EU's unequal relationship with China — a sign that Vautmans says is proof the bloc is coming to a unified stance toward the country.
"This is no longer just the position of the European Parliament or of one political group," Vautmans said after the debate. "There is a growing recognition that Europe needs a more coherent China policy: open to dialogue and cooperation, but much more willing to defend its interests when necessary."
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