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Europe’s incoherent ‘China threat’ posture is a threat to itself
Until its governments own the choices that follow from their actions, Europe will keep diagnosing power while others decide its fate
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Sebastian Contin Trillo-Figueroa is a geopolitics analyst with a specialisation in EU-Asia relations.
The China threat has landed in Brussels. A new European Union position paper accuses Beijing of amplifying security threats, posing “a critical long-term strategic challenge” and reviving “sphere-of-influence logic” to reshape the global order.
Beijing is cast as an enabler of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while its “assertive behaviour” in the South China Sea threatens European and Indo-Pacific security, stability and prosperity. The document, “Common Understanding: The Threats and Challenges We Face”, was approved by foreign ministers on July 13 among a long list of decisions.
The paper does not replace the policy adopted in 2019, when Brussels defined China simultaneously as partner, competitor and systemic rival. Instead, it places that formula beneath an overriding judgment: Beijing represents a long-term security challenge.
That label came a month after the same ministers had reaffirmed “de-risking, not decoupling” as EU policy towards China, alongside continued engagement with Beijing. More recently, China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and EU officials defined their relations as a “stable and balanced key trading partnership”.
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