ROADBLOCKS: U.S.-E.U. COOPERATION ON CHINA
BY MARISSA MORAN
The Pacific Council recently hosted the fifth installment of the Edgerton Series on Responding to a Rising China, featuring Dr. Leslie Vinjamuri of the Queen Elizabeth II Academy for Leadership in International Affairs and Noah Barkin of the German Marshall Fund of the United States on what a joint U.S.-E.U. strategy, on China might look like. The discussion was moderated by Pacific Council member Kimberly Marteau Emerson.
Here are takeaways from the discussion:
“There is a tremendous amount of goodwill that the United States can draw on when it comes to its relationship with the UK,” Vinjamuri said. “Britain is caught between a rock and a hard place in terms of choices and alternatives. China has given fewer reasons to believe holding an open door and remaining pragmatic is the way to go. The British foreign policy establishment doesn’t want to apply pressure on China related to human rights and values. Once you go down that path, you lose your leverage because at what point can you lift sanctions to talk about climate change and free and fair trade?”
“If you want to create pressure on human rights and values you need a coalition of countries, otherwise you will get peeled off one by one,” Emerson said.
“There are questions in Europe about what the end game for the United States is, whether the United States has an end game or a well-developed and thought through strategy,” Barkin said. “An attitude is not a strategy.”
“Europe has the impression that the United States is throwing everything but the kitchen sink at China at the moment,” Barkin said. “The EU is moving more slowly and deliberately. In some cases, they’re behind the United States, like investment screening. On other issues, they don’t feel they need to take the sort of actions that the Trump administration is taking.”
“Europe has been hit shockingly by the economic crisis driven by the pandemic,” Vinjamuri said. “That is the lens through which you need to think about Europe and the UK’s position on China: ‘Can we afford to take a hit? The answer is no.’ [They want] to get through November so they know where they stand and can begin to construct a rational, tactical, and strategic partnership with the United States and figure out where they can work together and where they can’t, and what that means for China.”
“I wouldn’t say that Biden as president will make the transatlantic divisions about China disappear,” Barkin said. “But they will be able to sit down at a table and talk about this. You will see the Biden administration make demands of Europe on China, but the tone will change and that will help. Europeans don’t believe that a United States led by Trump is a reliable partner. If Trump is reelected, you will see the EU work with other allies like Canada and Japan. You will also see a greater split between the EU and the UK, with the UK sticking with the United States as an only option.
The Edgerton Series on Responding to a Rising China aims to provide proactive and forward-looking solutions to some of the most complex local, regional, and global issues facing the United States and China today, through regular engagement in debates and discussions with the foremost experts in Chinese affairs. The Edgerton Series is made possible by generous support from the Edgerton Foundation. We thank Dr. Bradford and Ms. Louise Edgerton for their continued support of and dedication to the Pacific Council.
Watch the full conversation below:
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The views and opinions expressed here are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Pacific Council.
