European Union must ‘play offence’ to offset China’s rising influence in Africa and Asia, insiders say
2019-04-18 10:33:47 source：South China Morning Post
April 18, 2019
The European Union must adopt a more attacking strategy if it wants to compete with China on infrastructure development projects and promote its values in Africa and Asia, according to two of the bloc’s leading authorities on Beijing policy.
Reinhard Bütikofer, a member of the European Parliament and deputy chairman of its delegation for relations with China, said that after the promises made at last week’s EU-China summit the time was ripe for Brussels to push ahead with its global “connectivity strategy”.
The bloc had been playing “defence” to check China’s influence in its own backyard, he said, citing the introduction of anti-dumping measures and a new investment screening mechanism on April 1.
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