The European Union’s top diplomat called for the bloc to resist pressure to “pick a side” between China and the United States.

“Our relations with China are unavoidably complex and multi-faceted,” EU high representative for foreign affairs Josep Borrell wrote in a blog post Sunday. “The words ‘systemic rival’ have drawn a lot of attention, maybe more for the ‘rival’ than the ‘systemic’ part of the expression. But it doesn’t mean that we are embarking in a systematic rivalry.”