The European Union’s foreign ministers have agreed to work on a global infrastructure plan to link Europe with the world. It will connect European trade with the world. It is also aimed at countering the global impact and influence of China with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
According to Heiko Maas, German Foreign Minister, “We see China using economic and financial means to increase its political influence everywhere in the world. It’s useless moaning about this, we must offer alternatives.” Recently, Brussels has signed deals with Japan and India to collaborate in connecting Europe and Asia through projects on energy, transport, and digital. Moreover, New Delhi and Tokyo are concerned about China’s rise as an economic power, overshadowing Western influence in global trade and economy. They have also debated that China is using commerce and trade to initiate and maintain activities of statecraft and to expand its political influence.
Interestingly, the EU infrastructure plan is similar to China’s BRI project, also called the New Silk Road. The Group of Seven richest democracies or G7 mapped a plan to reduce China’s economic supremacy that is growing with every passing year under the umbrella of BRI and CPEC.
The EU infrastructure plan can be a result of President Joe Biden’s continuous persuasion to European allies to take forceful action against China. Recently, the EU imposed sanctions on Chinese officials for rights abuses, prompting retaliation by Beijing, which in turn penalised several EU lawmakers and officials.
In response, during a nationally televised speech, Chinese President Xi said, “We will never allow anyone to bully, oppress or subjugate China. Anyone who dares try to do that will have their heads bashed bloody against the Great Wall of Steel forged by over 1.4 billion Chinese people.”
EU’s infrastructural project is being termed as a “connectivity” plan set to be launched in 2022. In comparison to the EU’s infrastructure plan, the BRI comprises 40 countries from Sub-Saharan Africa, 34 countries from Europe and Central Asia, 24 countries from East Asia and Pacific, 17 countries from the Middle East and North America, 19 countries from Latin America and the Caribbean and 6 countries from South East Asia. Time will tell how many countries the European Union manages to include in its plan. Interestingly, the EU and the G7 would need to tackle European countries that are already a part of the BRI. Will the G7 compel them to switch sides and become members of the EU’s plan or will they be a part of both projects—led by the EU and China?
The European Union’s global investment strategy is aimed at reducing China’s influence and it will most certainly create a separate bloc in the West. The bloc’s economic, foreign, development, and security policy and interests will promote European values. It will present to the world a unified EU. The EU foreign ministers call this strategy a “Globally Connected Europe.” It will push for investments in visible projects to connect Europe to the world from 2022. EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said, “It has a broader purpose to put connectivity at the centre of our external policy. We started to do this two years ago with our agreement with Japan. But it seems that today is much more important for us to look at the connectivity problems with the broader Middle East and looking forward to Central Asia and China, but not with the same approach and the same purposes that China has with the Belt and Road initiative.”
The geopolitical fabric of the West and the East will begin to change once the EU’s “connectivity” plan takes shape from 2022. China and the EU will come head-on in trade, commerce, and other infrastructural projects. Furthermore, countries that are a part of China and the EU’s projects would need to be more diplomatically aligned to prevent any tussle or friction that may arise among them.