EU may have just deepened its reliance on the US, former Chinese envoy says

The latest trade deal between Brussels and Washington may deepen the European Union’s economic and security dependence on the US and increase the risks to the bloc’s pursuit of strategic autonomy, according to a senior Chinese diplomat.

Shi Mingde, who served as China’s ambassador to Germany from 2012 to 2019, gave his assessment of Sunday’s transatlantic agreement to academics and reporters at an event in Beijing on Tuesday to mark 50 years of China-EU relations.

The deal came hard on the heels of last Thursday’s one-day EU-China summit in the Chinese capital, which also marked the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and the 27-member bloc.

While Beijing has supported Europe’s push for strategic autonomy, it has firmly rejected its de-risking policy – to reduce the EU’s reliance on China – as a veiled attempt to contain Chinese growth, particularly in technology and the economy.

“The Europeans have proposed to reduce reliance to mitigate risk, but this reasoning is flawed,” Shi said.

“They claim that greater reliance leads to greater risk, yet their dependence on the United States remains even stronger – both in terms of security and economics – and the recent deal … further reinforces the EU’s dependence on the US in terms of security and the economy.