BRUSSELS, Oct 17 (Reuters) – Dutch foreign minister Wopke Hoekstra said on Monday that the EU is leaving behind naivety when it comes to its relations with China.
“There is increasing realism in the dialogue with China. We are leaving naivety behind”, Hoekstra told reporters on arriving to a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Monday, adding that he agrees with this approach.
The European Union ministers have been advised to take a tougher line on China and see the country as an all-out competitor with limited areas of potential engagement ahead of talks on revising Brussels’ strategy towards Beijing, the Financial Times reported on Monday.
The union should work closely with the United States, strengthen its cyber defence and diversify its supply chain away from China, according to a paper prepared for member states by the bloc’s foreign service and seen by the FT.
“China has become an even stronger global competitor for the EU, the U.S. and other like-minded partners,” the paper said.
(Reporting by Ann Maria Shibu in Bengaluru; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
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