European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen might be smiling, but the European Union has quite literally sold its soul to Communist China.
Announcing a landmark trade agreement with China on Wednesday, the EU claimed that it had reached a fair deal for both sides. Nothing is further from the truth. China has gained a massive gift of EU political prestige and deference for the years to come. Beijing will use this agreement to undermine further the post-World War II, U.S.-led, liberal international order. Xi Jinping made clear as much in his video conference statement to the EU’s leadership: “As the world’s two major forces, two markets, and two civilizations, China and the EU should show responsibility and act actively to be cooperative builders of world peace and progress.”
That reference of the EU and China as the “world’s two major forces” is a not-so-subtle one-fingered salute from Beijing to Washington. Xi knows just how damaging his victory is to American interests. Once unshakable American allies have chosen to put Chinese Communist gold before the very essence of their stated political identity. They have flushed their values down to the toilet.
In turn, and considering what’s at stake for U.S. and global interests, the U.S. government, whether the Trump administration or the Biden administration come Jan. 20, should recall the U.S. ambassador to the European Union and the U.S. ambassadors to each of the 27 EU member states. While only temporary and for consultations, such a diplomatic recall would send an unprecedented signal of Washington’s alarm at what the EU has just done, and emphasize that the U.S. must reconsider the nature of its relationship with its allies.
There’s simply no way of getting around it. This trade deal is a betrayal of the liberal international order that the EU claims to cherish. Take human rights. Responding to concerns over China’s imprisoning, forced sterilization, and slave-labor-like use of millions of Uighur Muslims, the EU declared that it had earned a significant concession: “China has committed to effectively implement ILO [International Labor Organization] conventions it has ratified, and to work towards the ratification of the ILO fundamental conventions, including on forced labor.”
This is truly pathetic stuff. There’s a galaxy-size difference between “work towards the ratification of the ILO fundamental conventions” and “has agreed to ratify labor conventions.” When it comes to forced labor, China hasn’t agreed to do anything but pledge maybe to try and do something positive at some undefined future point. The EU’s leadership knows this, of course. They know that China’s word on forced labor is about as valuable as Xi’s word on carbon emissions, Hong Kong, and intellectual property protections, which is to say, not very valuable.
But the consequences will go far beyond the plight of innocent peoples in Xinjiang province, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Tibet. This deal will give the Chinese Communist Party massive investment leverage to undermine U.S. efforts against its malevolence around the world. Whether it’s protecting western critical infrastructure from Chinese espionage and intellectual property theft (which is about to escalate further), or preserving the right of free navigation in international waters, or protecting endangered species in the Galapagos islands, or supporting the rights of Pacific nations to live free of Beijing’s bullying (EU allies like Australia), the U.S. now stands separate from its allies.
Chancellor Angela Merkel might be feted over by much of the Western media as the leader of the free world. She’s just given the greatest threat to the free world, the greatest diplomatic victory of his life. Only the EU parliament, which must ratify this agreement for it to take effect, now stands in Xi’s way.
