Following the first day of the U.S.-European Union Dialogue on China which took place in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 2-3, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and the Secretary General of the European External Action Service Stefano Sannino, issued a joint statement filled with anti-China rhetoric, voicing concern over China’s “problematic and unilateral actions in the East China Seas” and stressing the need for close contact to manage “competition and systemic rivalry” with Beijing. They also “emphasized the importance of the United States and EU maintaining continuous and close contacts on our respective approaches as we invest and grow our economies, cooperate with China where possible, and manage our competition and systemic rivalry with China responsibly.” This is the second such U.S.-EU dialogue on China held this year. (https://www.state.gov/u-s-eu-joint-press-release-by-the-eeas-and-department-of-state-on-the-second-high-level-meeting-of-the-u-s-eu-dialogue-on-china/)
The statement also referred to their discussion on the alleged rights abuses in China, including in Xinjiang and Tibet and what they call the “erosion of autonomy and democracy” in Hong Kong, expressing readiness to deepen U.S.-EU information-sharing on alleged “disinformation sponsored or supported by China.” “They expressed strong concern over China’s problematic and unilateral actions in the South and East China Seas and the Taiwan Strait that undermine peace and security in the region and have a direct impact on the security and prosperity of both the United States and European Union,” their statement said.
According to Reuters, France’s Vice Adm. Hervé Bléjean, the director general of the EU Military Staff, was also in Washington where he spoke at the CSIS, saying there was room for greater coordination to “express our strong desire to defend international law at sea against de facto policies that we’ve seen in the South China Sea.” Bléjean described France as a Pacific power and that Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, as well as Britain, all have interest in the Pacific. “We have to look at how we message that together, because when we’re all united, the power of the message is stronger, and how we interact with like-minded nations doing the same—Australia, the United States, Japan, ASEAN countries and so on.” Bléjean proposed that the EU could consider establishing a “Maritime Area of Interest” in the South China Sea after a pilot project aimed at better coordinating the maritime presence of EU member states underway in Africa’s Gulf of Guinea and another being looked at in the northern Indian Ocean.
