EU should handle China relations with due rationality and pragmatism

At a news conference in Brussels following a European Union foreign ministers' meeting on Monday, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas once again struck a China-bashing chord. Baselessly claiming China "increasingly weaponizes economic ties for political gains", she asserted,"No European country can match China on its own", while advocating for the bloc to "deploy our trade arsenal to strengthen resilience".

The Ukraine crisis, framed by Kallas as a security threat from Russia, complemented this narrative — part of a troubling pattern where some EU policymakers oversimplify complex challenges by clinging to a Cold War mentality, labeling Russia a security menace and China an economic rival to avoid real policy introspection. This rhetoric panders to short-term political expediency at the cost of Europe's long-term prosperity.

The EU's sanctions on Russia over Ukraine and its restrictive trade policies on China have neither brought the conflict closer to resolution nor strengthened Europe's economic resilience. Instead, the bloc faces stagnant growth and eroding strategic autonomy. Energy prices remain volatile, manufacturing output is declining and inflation continues to squeeze households.

Instead of reevaluating the situation, Kallas and her allies feel the measures are not enough and double down on confrontation — even as some US actions directly threaten the EU's core interests. Washington's 2025 National Security Strategy is demanding that the EU take over most of NATO's defense costs by 2027. Meanwhile, the United States threatens 17 percent tariffs on EU agricultural exports, a sector that employs millions of Europeans.

When sensible EU voices call for confronting these US "threats", Kallas dismisses them, warning that a fissure in the EU-US alliance would "make China laugh".

Notably, Kallas' news conference omitted any mention of US overreach, even as the Nexperia case lays bare the EU's self-inflicted wounds doing the US' bidding. The Netherlands' politically motivated intervention in the operations of the Chinese-owned semiconductor company, conceding to US pressure to replace its Chinese CEO, has disrupted Europe's critical chip supply chains — costing the Dutch economy sizable potential investments. This episode epitomizes how the EU sacrifices its own economic security to toe Washington's line, while Kallas and her cohorts block efforts to rethink the bloc's flawed security and trade policies. Such moves also undermine the EU's claim to be a "rules-based" actor.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of China-EU diplomatic relations -a legacy largely defined by partnership, not rivalry. Over five decades, bilateral trade has grown to be one of the most thriving and steady trade relations between major economies, raising living standards on both sides and fostering technological innovation.

The two sides share no fundamental conflicts; both uphold multilateralism, United Nations centrality and peaceful dispute resolution. China has never been, nor will ever be, the source of Europe's challenges — be it its energy crisis, demographic shifts or economic inequality. Amid global instability, the EU's true resilience lies in safeguarding its strategic autonomy, not succumbing to any external party's coercion or scapegoating China for complex challenges.

For China-EU relations to thrive, policymakers such as Kallas must abandon ideological bias and embrace objective engagement. Respecting each other's core interests and addressing differences through dialogue — not trade arsenals or Cold War rhetoric — can help the next 50 years of cooperation deliver mutual benefits. The EU's choice is between prioritizing its own people's interests over geopolitical posturing, or continuing to drift into strategic irrelevance, alienating key and potential partners and surrendering control of its future to external powers.