BRUSSELS: The EU's chief diplomat on Monday called for Europe and the United States to launch talks aimed at forging a common transatlantic front against an increasingly assertive China.
Brussels and Washington are at odds over a range of major global issues, but EU foreign affairs high representative Josep Borrell said the two sides should make common cause "to defend our values and our interest".
Borrell made his call during video talks with the 27 EU foreign ministers and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Borrell told reporters he had suggested launching a "distinct bilateral dialogue" focused on China and the challenges it poses to the EU and US by its "actions and ambitions"
"For us it's important to stay together with the US in order to share concerns and to look for common ground to defend our values and our interest," he said. The call comes as Europe struggles to calibrate its response to China's growing willingness to throw its weight around under President Xi Jinping.
The meeting kicked off a crunch week for Europe-US relations, with a virtual meeting of NATO defence ministers starting Wednesday already overshadowed by Washington's controversial plans to slash its troop presence in Germany.
US President Donald Trump's "America First" approach has seen ties with Europe lurch from crisis to crisis in recent years, but EU officials feel there should be scope to work together on China.
It is not clear how Washington will receive Borrell's suggestion. The US has pursued a tough-talking approach to Beijing, in contrast to the EU's bid to strike a delicate balance between cooperation, competition and confrontation.
Annexation warning
The new Israeli government led once again by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signalled it intends to annex West Bank settlements and the Jordan Valley, as proposed by Trump, with initial steps to begin from July 1.
Borrell was at pains to praise Trump's Middle East peace plan for injecting long-absent momentum into the process. A senior EU official said Monday's talks would be the start of three weeks "devoted to strongly reaching out" to all parties to try to stop the annexations, which Brussels says breach international law.
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