China EU relations

The incoming European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday that countries like Russia and "partly China" exploit the openness of European societies. Experts said that such remarks create challenges for China-EU relationship, and said that Kallas does not represent the whole of Europe.

Kallas told lawmakers that strengthening security must be a priority, warning that countries such as Russia and "partly China" exploit the continent's open societies, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

Kallas was nominated by European leaders in June to serve as the EU's new high representative for foreign affairs, and is set to succeed incumbent Josep Borrell, the Reuters report said.

Kallas made the statement even though she is not yet in office, indicating that the trend of following the US in terms of narrative, and even policy, may be strengthened, Cui Hongjian, a professor at the Academy of Regional and Global Governance at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times.

Cui said that her remarks characterize China as a security threat by combining it into a bloc with other countries that the EU considers to be increasingly hostile.

If the EU continues to jump on the US bandwagon, the China-EU relationship, which has already experienced some undesirable turbulence, especially in the public opinion environment, will probably suffer more problems in the future, Cui noted.

But Kallas doesn't completely represent all the EU institutions, not to mention all the European countries, Cui said. "The European perception of China should not be based solely on the rhetoric of some politicians."