EU-China Monthly Report: April 2020
INTRODUCTION
In this format, paired with an audio version coming to "EU-China Podcast", we bring you a digest of the key trends of EU-China relations. This way, you can be sure that you can keep up with the key EU-China happenings of the month, even if you have to go on a few days of news and Twitter detox or miss any of our weekly EU-China Briefings.
April brought many tensions between the EU and China, all at a fragile time during the "corona crisis". Much of this is owing to China's deployment of a new, more aggressive "wolf warrior" diplomacy style paired with disinformation campaigns. And while the low-key diplomacy with a carefully defined single Party-line is not gone, it is telling that China made a significant shift in its communication strategy.
China's more aggressive communication style and disinformation campaigns encouraged many European leaders to push back against Beijing. Granted, they have done so in a toned down, non-confrontational way, which some wouldn't see as push back at all. But here we need to consider that the EU is trying to develop a framework for a multilateral response to the threat of COVID-19 under the circumstances of growing Sino-American rivalry and considering the EU’s current dependence on imports of medical supplies from China, which the Party-State seems to be ready to weaponise in its foreign policy.
Still, the response went beyond rhetoric. What we are seeing may be the groundwork being laid down for a wider "China rethink". Don't expect it to happen just yet, given the circumstances just outlined, but returning to "business as usual" may not be so likely after the pandemic.