EU’s idea that China is caving to pressure is ‘serious misjudgment’: ex-diplomat

The European Union’s perception that China is yielding to its pressure tactics on trade is a “serious misjudgment”, as Beijing proved during last year’s tariff war with the United States that it will not back down from a confrontation, a former Chinese diplomat has warned.

But in reality, China only acted out of a willingness to safeguard its vast bilateral economic ties with Europe, and further provocations could backfire on the EU, according to Cui Hongjian, who served as a diplomat in India and Jamaica during the 2000s.

“China’s willingness to reach agreements with the EU on electric vehicle export restrictions and other issues is not because we fear Europe, nor because we only respond to pressure,” said Cui, who now serves as director of the Centre for EU and Regional Development Studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University.

“China has never sought trouble, but neither has it shied away from it. Even under enormous trade pressure from the United States, China has neither compromised nor bowed down,” he said during the 19th Europe-China Business and Technology Cooperation Fair in Chengdu, capital of China’s southwestern Sichuan province, on Thursday.

Cui pointed to remarks by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who welcomed recent breakthroughs in trade talks with Beijing but said Brussels would continue negotiations while preparing tougher measures to address persistent trade imbalances.

Speaking to the European Parliament on Wednesday, von der Leyen said the EU must be ready to deploy trade defence instruments when dialogue failed to produce results.

Others in Brussels have made a similar link between negotiations and trade protection measures. “Continued negotiations and effective safeguards are two sides of the same strategy,” said Bernd Lange, chairman of the European Parliament’s committee on international trade, in a social media post last week.

At the annual three-day event, Cui said policymakers in Brussels should not misread Beijing’s intentions in trade negotiations.

“China is acting out of a desire to preserve its extensive trade and economic ties with the EU and deepen cooperation in green and digital industries, not out of fear of anyone,” he added.

Cui also argued that the economic differences between China and Europe – increasingly emphasised by Brussels in recent years – were nothing new, having existed since the two sides began building economic ties more than four decades ago.

“Differences do not necessarily lead to disagreements, nor must disagreements turn into competition,” he said, adding that such tensions could instead drive dialogue and cooperation if both sides were willing to manage them rather than allow them to escalate into destructive rivalry.

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Cui likened Europe’s growing unease over its deepening economic ties with China to “pre-wedding jitters”, arguing that Brussels was hesitant to move beyond traditional trade ties towards closer industrial, investment and technological cooperation.

“If China and Europe are moving from dating to marriage, Europe seems to be getting cold feet,” he said, adding that deeper integration could prove more rewarding than Brussels feared.

He also proposed a new model for China-EU cooperation in green and digital industries, reversing their traditional roles by having China provide capital and technology while Europe contributes labour and market access.