Chinese envoy takes aim at Europe’s ‘de-risking’, national security fears

A senior Chinese diplomat has traded barbs with European envoys at a forum in Beijing, urging Europe not to see Beijing as a threat, as European capitals pursue a “de-risking” strategy in dealing with China.

He called on envoys at the event to try to understand China properly and not overemphasise national security in relation to China.

“Decoupling is the baby of the USA, de-risking was invented in Europe, and the concept of national security has been overstretched,” Wu told the forum, which has been held annually since 2015.

“China is a key partner for cooperation with Europe and that such a key partner is considered as a systemic rival is neither reasonable nor logical,” Wu said.

But European envoys at the forum said concerns about China were justified.

Thomas Østrup Møller, Denmark’s ambassador to China, said it was “not fair to blame Europe for inventing de-risking as a new out-of-the-blue policy”.

“In addition, this kind of economic security thinking has also been a prevailing theme within China for several years.”

Spanish ambassador Rafael Dezcallar de Mazarredo said the European Union strategy to classify China as a partner, competitor and systemic rival “is not intended to be a strategy, it is a description”.

“But, like it or not, that is how we have been [in] our relations with China.”

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Patricia Flor, Germany’s ambassador to China, told the forum it was natural for any country to identify and manage the risks posed to national security in uncertain times.

Germany unveiled a new China strategy in July that marks a break from an era in which bilateral ties and trade blossomed under former chancellor Angela Merkel.

“[The strategy] presents the means and the instruments by which the federal government can actually work with China, while not endangering our way of life, our sovereignty and prosperity,” Flor said.

EU ambassador Jorge Toledo Albinana also weighed in, saying de-risking meant eliminating excessive dependency in supply chains for strategic goods and taking into consideration security concerns.

“All this is something China has been doing for decades,” Albinana said. “I find it difficult to understand why we should be criticised for doing the same thing that China has been doing.”

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Sun Yongfu, a senior researcher at the think tank and a former head of European affairs at the commerce ministry, told the forum that he did not want to see “political issues” interfere with business and trade cooperation.

He also hit out at China being called a “systemic rival”. “Why is it mentioned again and again? Too much … We should not [just] concentrate on conflicts.”

Concerns over China’s position on the war in Ukraine were also raised. Beijing has never condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, despite pressure from Western countries and the UN voting overwhelmingly for Moscow to immediately and unconditionally withdraw its troops from the former Soviet state.

“[Russia’s invasion of Ukraine] has affected our relationship [with China],” EU ambassador Albinana said. “The future of this war will continue to affect our relations until China condemns the aggression and asks Russia clearly to withdraw from the illegal and unprovoked annexation and occupation of a sovereign country.”

German envoy Flor said the EU could not accept “a fake peace” but sought a “just and sustainable peace in Ukraine”, which meant restoring the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine in its internationally recognised borders.