US and EU should join forces to check China’s influence in Africa, Indo-Pacific, Republican senator proposes

Report by chairman of US Senate Foreign Relations Committee says a transatlantic partnership could foster private-sector investment and ensure maritime security

The next steps are ‘to build upon the existing political will to cooperate in the region and to decide where to focus and what cooperation means in practice’

Reading Time:2 minutes

The EU is reportedly planning to ask US President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming administration to seize a “once in a generation” opportunity to forge a new global alliance to meet the “strategic challenge” posed by China. Photo: Reuters

Published: 3:11am, 1 Dec 2020Updated: 11:04pm, 1 Dec 2020

Cooperation between the United States and European Union is “all the more important” in the Indo-Pacific and Africa to counter growing Chinese influence in those areas, according to a new report by the chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

This comes as the EU is reportedly planning to ask US President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming administration to seize a “once in a generation” opportunity to forge a new global alliance to meet the “strategic challenge” posed by China.

Calls for a transatlantic alliance are on the rise in the US and Europe after Biden’s victory over Donald Trump, who has adopted a hostile attitude toward the EU and insisted on tackling China by Washington’s own means.

A recently published report by Senator Jim Risch, a Republican from Idaho, says the US should work with the EU to foster private-sector investments in the Indo-Pacific area, especially in infrastructure projects, and to ensure maritime security in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean.

The report said the next steps “are to build upon the existing political will to cooperate in the region and to decide where to focus and what cooperation means in practice”.

US-EU coordination has been much weaker in the Indo-Pacific than in Africa, according to the report.