Chinese Vice President Han Zheng holds talks with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in The Hague, the Netherlands, May 11, 2023. At the invitation of the Dutch government, Han visited the Netherlands from Wednesday to Friday. (Xinhua/Li Tao)

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang holds joint press conference with Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt on May 12, 2023. Photo: Xinhua

High-level Chinese officials have concluded their Europe trips in recent days, which came at a key juncture as the continent is striving to reach a unified China policy. Experts believe that candid conversations about bilateral ties during the trips will help lead Europe's China policy to a more objective and positive direction.

At the same time, European officials are also vying to set tone on Europe's relations with China, using language such as "de-risking" and reduce economic reliance on China. Experts called such remarks vague and impractical, and that further alienating China is not in line with Europe's interest.  

During his visit to the Netherlands, Chinese Vice President Han Zheng and leaders of the Netherlands agreed to seek consensus, jointly tackle climate change and strengthen pragmatic cooperation, Xinhua News Agency reported on Saturday.

The Chinese vice president also called for mutual respect, mutual understanding and mutual support between countries of different civilizations, so that they can seek consensus in exchanges and promote win-win results in cooperation.

There is no conflict of fundamental interests between China and Europe, but instead, they have more complementary advantages, Han noted, voicing China's willingness to promote the better development of China-Europe relations through pragmatic cooperation.

The Netherlands is the last leg of Han's Europe visit. He visited Portugal before arriving in the Netherland. 

Meanwhile, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang also concluded his visit to three European countries of Germany, France and Norway on Friday. 

"China and Europe are two globally influential powers, two vast markets, and two great civilizations. I deeply felt, through the visit, a strong willingness of the European side to enhance communication, coordination, and to promote mutually beneficial cooperation with China," Qin said when asked about how to maintain sound development of China-Europe relations at a joint press conference on Friday with his counterpart Anniken Huitfeldt. 

He called for the adherence to an inclusive worldview. China and Europe should respect and support different countries' development paths chosen by their people, jointly and positively respond to the universal concerns of the international community, Qin said. He warned that a "new Cold War" would only bring greater disaster, severely harm the interests of the Chinese and the European people, as well as the rest of the world, and would significantly undermine multilateralism and global governance.

The high-level Chinese officials' visits to Europe were seen by Yan Shaohua, an associate research fellow at the Center for China-Europe Relations of Fudan University, as China's reaching out to Europe to strengthen dialogue and cooperation, and express China's concerns over China-Europe relation, and achieved relatively positive result. 

Cui Hongjian, director of the Department of European Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times that at the key juncture when European countries are fiercely debating about a unified China policy, candid conversation with European countries can help them form a more objective perception of China, thus leading the unified policy on a more objective and positive path. 

The China debate

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who met the EU's 27 foreign ministers on Friday in Stockholm to discuss how the bloc should "recalibrate" its policy towards Beijing, stressed it still important to "engage" with Beijing at the same time as they're looking into cutting the EU's reliance in the face of fundamentally different values and economic systems.

Cui said as EU leaders are set to discuss the bloc's relationship with China at a summit in June, leaders from Europe are now vying to set the tone for the topic. 

Previously, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz talked about reducing risk in China relations. Cui mentioned that when those leaders are eager to lead the discussion on China, they should refrain from putting forward vague and impractical remarks. 

"Reducing economic reliance on China, is in fact decoupling from China, which is neither realistic, nor is it in line with Europe's interest. Especially when China's economy is blessed with strong recovery after adopting downgraded COVID-19 management, keeping close economic relations with China will help Europe shake off current economic pothole and offset the damage caused by the Russia-Ukraine crisis," according to Cui. 

Speaking at the meeting in Stockholm, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said Hungary's government wants to avoid the EU becoming an "anti-China bloc."

"We don't agree at all with the way certain European countries want to define China as a kind of systemic rival," Szijjártó said during a break in an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers, Daily News Hungary, a local media quoted a ministry statement as saying. "We believe that the European Union should strive for strategic cooperation with China." 

Yan said due to European countries' varied stances on China, the bloc may struggle to reach consensus on a unified China policy next month, "but de-risk will be the basic tone."

On the Russia-Ukraine crisis, Borrell has warned China again to use its influence to end Russia's war in Ukraine, or their already strained relations will worsen.

Qin Gang has repeatedly talked about China's stance on the Ukraine crisis. In Norway, he emphasized that China has always stood on the side of peace and has been promoting peace and talks since the first day of the crisis, demonstrating the role of a responsible major country.

Cui believes it is best for the EU to remain pragmatic about the Ukraine crisis, and refrain from pushing China to commit any actions based on Brussels' will, "remarks and actions of such kind are inappropriate, and do not reflect the mutual respect policy between Beijing and the bloc." 

The expert also said that alliance with the US is also a key point in EU's discussion with China, as some in Europe are doubling down its alliance with Washington and still willing to be marshaled under US' lead to go against China.

Washington and the EU will pledge joint action to tackle concerns focused on China about non-market practices and coordinate their export controls on semiconductors and other goods at a meeting this month, Reuters reported, quoting a draft statement. 

Experts opined that such move is clearly US' coercion on the EU to join its club of cracking down on China's development. However, Cui noted that there are still growing force in Europe hope to achieve autonomy from the US, and when Europe is "recalibrating it relation with China, it is also seeking to reduce alliance on the US."