EU Needs to Watch How China Manages Its Influence, Borrell Says

The European Union shouldn’t prevent China from becoming a world power and should focus instead on managing how Beijing uses its new might, the bloc’s foreign policy chief said.

(Bloomberg) — The European Union shouldn’t prevent China from becoming a world power and should focus instead on managing how Beijing uses its new might, the bloc’s foreign policy chief said.

As the bloc works to recalibrate its approach toward Beijing, Josep Borrell said China is still a partner and competitor for the EU in many areas, as well as a rival. But he stressed the bloc wasn’t in a “systematic rivalry” with the country.

“If it uses this power in accordance with international law, if it doesn’t put in danger our interests and values, we have to live with China on the world stage,” Borrell said at the European Defence and Security Summit in Brussels.

The comments come ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Stockholm on Friday where they are due to discuss the bloc’s approach to China. 

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