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EU chief calls for muscular policy to counter China’s ‘alternative world order’
- Combative speech from Ursula von der Leyen sets tone ahead of expected meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing next week
- The EU is not seeking to decouple from China but ‘de-risk’ ties in both economic and political ways, European Commission president insists
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Finbarr Berminghamin Brussels
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has accused China of pursuing a “systemic change of the international order” with Beijing at its centre.
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In a hotly anticipated speech about EU-China relations in Brussels on Thursday, von der Leyen said the commission would propose a new “economic security strategy later this year”, designed to counter what she described as an “increasingly assertive” Beijing.
As part of this, the bloc would consider restricting European companies’ investments in China in sensitive sectors such as robotics, quantum computing and artificial intelligence.
Von der Leyen also said that a stalled investment pact between the European Union and China was now outdated, suggesting that any moves to revive the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) would be unsuccessful.
“We have to recognise that the world and China have changed in the last three years – and we need to reassess CAI in light of our wider China strategy,” she said, in a rare comment on the deal that would appear to draw a line under its future.
The combative speech set out von der Leyen’s stall ahead of a trip with French President Emmanuel Macron next week to China, where she is set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping.
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