BEIJING, July 17. /TASS/. Growing trade tensions with the United States will not prompt China and the European Union to form an anti-US bloc, China’s Global Times newspaper said citing Chinese experts.
"China and the EU do share concerns and pressure from the US, and they have agreed to have joint efforts to balance the impact. But identifying the US as a common threat is against the principle of China-EU cooperation - not to be against a third party," Director of the Department of European Studies at China’s Institute of International Studies Cui Hongjian said, as cited by the Global Times.
According to the expert, the European Union and China are facing different pressure from Washington. "For instance, aluminum-steel tariffs will have a greater impact on the EU than on China, so if China and the EU were to form an anti-US alliance it would be very complicated to clarify their respective responsibilities and they would not likely come up with effective joint action," Cui Hongjian said.
"Many EU members have close ties with the US in trade and security fields, so it is impossible to ask the EU to have a united opinion to oppose the US. China and the EU hold different views on the US," the Global Times quoted Director of the Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University of China Wang Yiwei as saying.
The expert added that Beijing believed "Trump's unilateral and protectionist moves will have a long-term impact on US political thinking and actions."
On July 16, Beijing hosted the 20th China-EU summit. Participants discussed key global issues, including the current state of cooperation between China and the European Union and ways to boost it, as well as measures to protect multilateral mechanisms, deter protectionism, facilitate trade, investment and promising economic projects, and coordinate positions in response to global challenges. The parties also discussed the situation in Ukraine, North Korea denuclearization issue and ways to maintain international obligations under the Iran nuclear deal.