But two senior ambassadors who attended said there was no direct response from the ministers gathered in Brussels when Blanken said: “We must push back against China together and show strength in unity.”
Their reluctance is partly due to a reluctance to commit to anything until Washington, under President Joe Biden, fully clarifies its China policy.
But ministers were also cautious as the EU seeks a strategic balance in relations with Beijing and Washington to ensure the bloc does not ally one of the world’s two superpowers so closely that it alienates the other.
The EU also hopes to have enough independence from Washington and Beijing to allow itself to deepen ties with countries in the Indo-Pacific region such as India, Japan and Australia, EU officials said.
In a new departure for the EU, they said, the bloc hopes to agree a plan next month for a bigger and more robust security presence in the Indo-Pacific, including development aid, trade and diplomacy.
“We are looking for a third way between Washington and Beijing,” said an EU representative in Asia. Another EU official in Asia expressed concern that the US “has an ambitious agenda against China that is not our agenda”.
European Road Show
Last month’s video conference was part of an effort under Biden to rebuild alliances abandoned by former US President Donald Trump, who had adversarial relations with both the EU and China.
The White House has launched a European road show and is in daily contact with European governments about China’s growing power, a senior US official said, for “continued efforts to achieve a higher level of coordination and cooperation in a range of areas”.
In a sign that U.S. pressure on China is having an effect, Germany plans to send a frigate in August to Asia and the South China Sea, where Beijing has military outposts on artificial islands, senior government officials told Reuters.
The European Union will impose sanctions on four Chinese officials and an agency on March 22 over human rights abuses against China’s Uighur Muslim minority – including travel bans and asset freezes, diplomats said.
In another sign, when Chinese President Xi Jinping led a video summit with Central and Eastern European countries last month, six EU member states – Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovenia – sent ministers instead of heads of state.
But there is still mistrust in Brussels of Washington’s attitude towards China, even as attitudes in Europe have hardened against China over Beijing’s crisis in Hong Kong, its treatment of Uyghur Muslims and the COVID-19 outbreak, which was first identified in China.
The United States says China is an authoritarian state that has embarked on military modernization that threatens the West, and has sought to undermine telecommunications equipment maker Huawei, which it sees as a national security threat.
The US-led NATO military alliance has also begun to focus on China, but the Biden administration is still reviewing policy.
“We ask what their China strategy is and they say they don’t have one yet,” said an EU official in Asia.
French President Emmanuel Macron raised concerns in some EU countries last month, saying that uniting against China would create “the highest potential” for conflict.
‘There is no alternative’
But the EU is hungry for new business and the Indo-Pacific offers huge potential.
The EU has a trade agreement with Japan and is negotiating with Australia. Diplomats say Indo-Pacific countries want the EU to be more active in the region to keep trade free and open and ensure they are not left with a direct choice between Beijing and Washington.
France has committed to an Indo-Pacific strategy in 2018 with allies such as Australia and India, followed by the Netherlands, which also has its own strategy, and Germany’s weaker set of “guidelines”.
The EU strategy, if agreed, could include more EU military experts in EU diplomatic missions in Asia, more EU military personnel to train coast guards and patrol aboard Australian ships in the Indian Ocean, diplomats said.
It is unclear how committed Germany, which has close trade ties with China, to any new strategy. German government officials say the EU cannot isolate Beijing in 2019 despite branding China a “systemic rival”.
But French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will visit India in April to promote the EU’s Indo-Pacific strategy, and the EU plans to hold a summit with India this year.
France, which has 1.8 million citizens in the Pacific Ocean, has about 4,000 troops, naval vessels and patrol boats in the region.
“The Indo-Pacific is the cornerstone of Europe’s geopolitical path,” said a French diplomat. “There is no alternative.”
