EEAS Ambassadors' Conference: What Future Relationship with China: Cooperation, Competition, or Confrontation?

Once a year, the European External Action Service (EEAS) calls all EU Ambassadors and Heads of Delegation to a one-week meeting to Brussels. This year, I participated in the discussion on China. On Friday, I had the honor to speak spoke at the EEAS Ambassadors’ Conference at the start of the year that marks the 25th anniversary of the EU’s relations with China. This year could gravely deepen systemic challenges: Grievances of European citizens could become grave if the EU’s competitiveness suffers further not just due to a lack of innovativeness but also highly subsidised Chinese exports. An acceleration of the tech rivalry between the US and China could come with grave consequences for Europe’s economic security. The EU should act in unity and in close collaboration with international partners, especially from the Plural South. In addition, China's relations with Latin America, recent headlines of DeepSeek's AI model and the implications of China-Russia relations were discussed.

Francesca Ghiretti, research leader at RAND Europe, was also a panelist. Niclas Kvarnstörm, Managing-Director of Asia Pacific at the EEAS, moderated the panel.