Parliament discusses the European Union’s response to the growing global challenges stemming from a more repressive and assertive China. opening statements by Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission and by Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of a stronger Europe in the World. This transcription is a result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery.

statement

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

EU - China (T)

BORRELL FONTELLES, Josep (PSE, ES, EC)

VON DER LEYEN, Ursula (DE, EC)

The need for a coherent strategy for EU-China Relations: opening statements by Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission and by Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Good morning. Dear Members of the European Parliament. I know you've asked me to come to the European Parliament this morning as President of the Foreign Affairs Council to talk about the need for a consistent strategy for EU China relations. Ladies and gentlemen, it's always good to have a consistent strategy when it comes to China or anything else.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, It's good to have a consistent strategy, but in the light of the wording of the title of this debate, it might be thought that the title means that the EU doesn't have a consistent or coherent strategy. So I think that if that's the case, I think I'm being directly mentioned and referred to because the High Representative under the treaty.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, My task is to make certain that there is consistency and coherence in the EU foreign policy. If you don't think that there is such a consistency, then it is going to be my fault, although not only my fault. So we're talking about foreign, a common foreign and security policy. Title five of the treaty.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, In other words, a common foreign policy, but not a single foreign policy because each individual member state maintains its own powers when it comes to foreign policy, even though they have committed themselves to building a common foreign policy.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Each one still has their own policy at the moment. So in something as complicated as relations with China, there are obviously different approaches because there are different interests in play between the member States. That's just a fact.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, But if we want to build a coherent EU China strategy, it's vital that each and every one of the stakeholders in the EU acts well fully respecting the treaties. Exercise their powers and playing their various roles. Each one has their own task, and that affects all of the Member States, the Council, the the European Council, the Commission, and of course the honourable members of the European Parliament.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, So as you know, and as the report sensibly points out, the common foreign and security policy and as part of that, relations with China is defined unanimously by the European Council and by Council.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, The European Council defines the strategic interests of the EU. It sets goals and defines the general guidelines for foreign policy and basing itself on that, my council, the Foreign Affairs Council, draws up the CFSP and adopts the relevant decisions to apply it.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, The Commission, which is my honour to be a vice President of, also plays a crucial role when it comes to areas which have a huge impact on our foreign relations. And since we are talking more and more about economic security, as the President has mentioned, as part of national security, this is an ever really, ever increasingly important roles.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, This concept of economic security is going to have a crucial weight when it comes to our very understanding of foreign policy. Japan and the United States are including this in their own definition of foreign policy, and we need to do the same thing, bearing in mind the institutional characteristics of the union and the fact that it's ultimately the member states who have the requisite instruments to apply this economic security through restrictions or controls on exports and investments both within and out with Europe.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, As you'll be aware, we do have a strategy on China dating back to 2019, the famous triptych and there's no question that a lot of things have happened since then and we need to recalibrate the strategy so that it's in line with the new circumstances. But the EU has never explicitly defined China as a direct threat to our security as it had done with Russia.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, So this triptych approach, this multi focal approach, has shown its worth when it comes to China. But recently relations have worsened as you'll be aware, because of what's happened. The sanctions imposed by China against members of this House, the economic difficulties with Lithuania and the exercises in the Gulf of Taiwan.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, So when it comes to revising our relations with China, the resolution approved by this House, there's von der Leyen's speech. The in the light of the measures now also by the United States on export controls, on investment in China and semiconductor exports as a part of the framework of national security. It also be aware of the official visit to China, the President of the Council last year and the member heads of state and government from the Member States and the President of the Commission.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, I myself mentioned in March the urgent need at the next Council would be devoted to China. And the leaders met in the European Council should decide to revise this China strategy. And given that as high representative of the EU under the treaty, it's my task to contribute to the drafting of this strategy. Let me tell you how I personally, I'm not speaking on behalf of the Council yet, but let me tell you how I see relations with China and how our strategy can be and ought to be adapted.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, We're very focussed, of course, on the Russian aggression against Ukraine. And there's another political problem, of course, which is also large, which is China, but China is not Russia. China is a superpower. A superpower which is growing its presence throughout the world. Its influence is considerable, its political weight is continuing to grow and its attractiveness to many countries in the south can't be denied.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, For example, in Asia, China has become the biggest investor. It's overtaken us. It's as if China had started a process where it looks at and tries to pre-empt the impact of various sanctions is what we call de-risking. That's what they seem to be doing. We need to bear these issues in mind as we try to define a consistent strategy when it comes to China.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, But although there is the fact that we are in rival mode, we have to keep talking to China. We can't stop negotiating with China when it comes to trying to sort out the biggest problems in the world, because China's not a democracy. There's more than 40 highly indebted countries, for example, there's thousands of millions of people affected by climate change. Things like this mean that we have to work together.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, China's got more cold than the rest of the world put together, and it's the biggest creditor for emerging countries. So from a debt and from a climate perspective, there's no way of solving those problems unless China is involved and working with us. We need to keep talking to China just because of its massive influence in the world and because dialogue is the basis of international policy. Until has happened between Russia and Ukraine, the inevitable happens.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, China is emerging, it has emerged, and it's going to continue to be a player. And in a few years, China and India will represent almost a half of world production. And they'll be back, in fact, in the place that they used to occupy before the Industrial Revolution. The wheel of history would have turned full circle. But it's important that we look in a clear, effective way.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, This is clear that we need to align our positions. We can't speak with just one voice because of the multiplicity of voices that we have, but at least we could be a well-tuned chorus. Many voices, I should say, which are trying to say the same thing, or at least are on the same wavelength. Plurality doesn't have to be a problem if we have an agreed position, in particular in an agreed position on two issues.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Is Europe a pole in a multi-polar world? Does it have its own existence as a political entity? What we call strategic autonomy or just autonomy in Europe? And secondly, what's going to be our attitude to China's view of Russia's aggression in Ukraine? When Mr. Macron went to China and talked to President Xi and said that, well, I hope you can talk some sense into Putin, and it's possible that President Xi Jinping didn't think that Putin needed sense being talked into.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, President Lula was in China a couple of days ago and he basically expressed unity with China's strategic goals. I prepared a long speech I was going to deliver in China, which was cancelled because I got COVID. But I still think we can boil it down to four words: values, economic security, Taiwan and Ukraine.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, First of all, values. We don't have the same vision of human rights and respect for fundamental rights of individuals that China does and in all international fora and with all countries in the world. China is developing a narrative which subordinates fundamental political rights to economic development.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, When I was young, we used to talk about real freedoms and formal freedoms. The real ones are those that are linked with your material living conditions. But I don't think it's one or the other either or. We need them both.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, We need freedom to be free. But we need this political freedom to be a motor, to generate wealth for our citizens. We want freedom, but we want economic progress. And we need to defend that position. And counteract China's narrative with all of the intellectual force at our disposal. But we need to continue with that dialogue. And we've started doing that bilaterally after China broke off the dialogue on human rights with us.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Secondly, economic relations and economic security. Economic relations are highly unbalanced, terribly unbalanced. The trade deficit is huge and it continues to grow. $400 billion in deficit and they've got a surplus of 470. It's no longer a supplier of cheap goods produced through cheap labour. Quite the contrary. It's now the cutting edge of technological development and it's a competitor when it comes to the most sophisticated goods.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Ultimately, cheap stuff ends up costing you a lot of money. That's what my grandmother always used to say, and we learned that with Russia. And now we're learning in economic competition with China, not because we're uncompetitive, but because China isn't run by the market is run by the state. And that's changed the ground rules very considerably.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, We do have problems, we ground rules with the United States of course. We compete with the US and we talk about the competition rules with them. But at the end of the day, we're talking about two market economies.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, And China is something different: our elations are unbalanced because we also depend on certain products which make us vulnerable. And this vulnerability is increasing when these products, these commodities, are integrated into production processes that end in fine in goods, which we import from China. That's important. Therefore, that de-risking is a commission president mentioned, and that can be done by looking for different sources of supply, controlling in and out investments, but always respecting the rules of the WTO.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, It will be weird if we talked about obeying the rules and we then flouted the rules of the body that's given most in terms of setting out a fair playing field in terms of trade de-risking, reducing the risks means that the course there are risks to be reduced. And if we redirect economic flows and move to countries

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, In Asia, other countries and China, then almost automatically these countries will beef up their relations with China, their trade relations, because they'll be importing the raw materials they need to produce the goods that they're going to then sell to us. So we will only have placed a middle man as far as our dependencies are concerned.We will be indirectly dependent, and that could actually be worse than the situation we're in at the moment because these countries are far more vulnerable to Chinese pressure than we are now.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, We need to reject the illusion that to protect ourselves economically from China, we need to undermine our economies. Our dependence on international trade is too great. It's more than twice that of the United States. We wouldn't gain anything in terms of security, and we would weaken economic position as an economic counterweight. We need to diversify, to reduce vulnerability. But reducing vulnerability at the end of the day is the same as increasing autonomy.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, De-risk and strategic autonomy go together because dependence is the opposite of autonomy. So the more autonomous you are, the less dependent you are by definition. And if economy dependence is bad, then the policy is bad as well. If these things aren't balanced, one side's much stronger than the other. That's not an alliance.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, If you are not autonomous, you're dependent. We need to reduce risk. But they shouldn't just be a slogan. Ladies and gentlemen, it's not just a nice phrase. It's got to be a long term policy. We took years to put it together in the same way that we'll spend. We spent a long time increasing our military capacity and we need to keep doing that.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, The biggest geopolitical risk is that de-risking with China should increase China's ability to have an impact on the rest of Asia. So that's something we need to look at together. All institutions, I mean, all member states in a way that relevant is ongoing and is committed to finding a solution.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, On Taiwan, now. Taiwan is crucial for Europe for three reasons. It's the most strategic strait in the world, particularly as far as trade is concerned. We need to be present there through the freedom of navigation operations and our fleets need to be there.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Secondly, not just for moral, ethical reasons, that we should reject any external interference in the affairs of Taiwan. Also, it be very serious for us economically because for Taiwan's role in production of the most important semi, most advanced semiconductors is crucial. So if we really want to be a geopolitical player, we need to be present throughout the world to reaffirm our positions, to defend our interests, to call for calm, to face down provocations no matter where they come from. That's why the best way is to go back to the status quo ante.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Taiwan is clearly part of our geostrategic perimeter to guarantee peace, to defend our interests without throwing oil on the fire. All states in Europe, I'm sure, would agree with that view. When it comes to Ukraine, everyone knows what we think. Our message to China is quite clear. The president made it very clear when she was there.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Our relations with China can't develop normally if China doesn't use its influence with Russia to get it to withdraw its troops from Ukraine and put an end to this war in the light of a conflict which affects the territorial integrity and the sovereignty of an independent state whose borders are protected by international law and the commitments of the major powers, including Russia and China.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Any neutrality doesn't draw a distinction between the aggressor and the country aggressed, is basically on the side of the aggressor. We have said this very often and we're going to continue to say it.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Finally, from a geopolitical standpoint, we need to avoid a new Cold War between the West and the Far East, as opposed to the East that the previous Cold War was about. And we've got a lot of difficulties in countries in the south which need to be borne in mind here.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Because look at the strategic triangle - europe, China, US - to see it from that standpoint only would be reductionist and reductive because it doesn't bear in mind the existence of the great masses of people in the south where China is paying special attention because it's trying to build a new world order through them, different from the one that they say that the West has built. And they're quite open in saying this.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, They don't mince words when they're saying this. We know that's the situation. That's why the debate on China is only just starting. It needs to be done in a calm way, in a realistic way. We need to be aware that things are what they are. And the numbers the figures are what they are. We need to be determined. We need to be clear and we need to be more united than ever.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, That unity is vitally important, even though it doesn't rule out having different voices speaking on behalf of Europe, just as we're going to see today when the Council and the Commission. Thank you very much.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Mr. President, Minister Giuseppe, Honourable Members. During my trip to China this month, I was fortunate to be in Beijing on the day of the Qingming Festival, one of the most traditional Chinese holidays. It is a day to honour and pay respect to past generations and it is part of the very rich history and culture of China that certainly fascinates and captures the imagination of people all around the world.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Seeing this country again firsthand only reinforced my deep admiration and respect for the people of China. For centuries, they have helped shape world civilisation, and in the last decades they have really transformed the economy of their country, lifting more than 800 million people out of poverty in the last 45 years.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, We should never lose sight of the magnitude of this transformation into a modern day economic powerhouse, key global player and a leader on many of the cutting edge technologies that certainly will shape the next decades of global civilisation and progress. This international and economic status, as well as our own interests, make it all the more important for Europe to manage its relations with China.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, And for me, that also shows that decoupling is clearly not viable, desirable or even practical for Europe. But as I said back in January, and as I set out in more detail a few weeks ago, there is clearly a need for Europe to work on de-risking some important and sensitive parts of our relationship. So de-risking, but not decoupling.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Much has been said about this since I set out the principle itself of this de-risking strategy, and even more has been said since the last trip. In many ways that reaction is good because Europe needs to have this discussion. And so I want first and foremost, thank the Parliament for putting this debate on today. It's urgent and it's good that we have this debate.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Most importantly, I say this because this relationship is too important for us not to define our own European strategy and principles for engagement with China. I believe we can, and we must carve out our own distinct European approach. That also leaves space for us to cooperate with other partners, too.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, And the starting point for this is the need to have a shared and very clear eyed picture of the risks and the opportunities in our engagement with China. And this means acknowledging as well as clearly saying that the Chinese Communist Party's actions have now caught up with its stated ambitions and the hardening of China's overall strategic posture over the last years.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, For example, the shows of military force in the East China Sea, and at the border with India, directly affect our partners and their legitimate interests. Or on the issue of Taiwan. The EU's one China policy is long standing. We have consistently called for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, and we stand strongly against any unilateral change of the status quo, in particular by the use of force.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, We must also never shy away from talking about the deeply concerning and grave human rights violations in Xinjiang. And just as China has been ranking up its military posture, it has also ramped up its policy of economic and trade coercion, as we've seen from Lithuania to Australia and the targeting of everything from pop bands to trade brands.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, We have also seen these tactics directed right here in the House of European Democracy, and I want to express my solidarity to those members of the European Parliament who have been unfairly sanctioned by the Chinese Communist Party just for calling out human rights violations.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, And all this is symptomatic for the fact that China has now turned the page on the era of reform and opening, and is moving into a new era of security and control. I heard this in Beijing from many European companies who have witnessed firsthand this shift towards security and away from the logic of open markets and free trade.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, And to strengthen that security and control leverage, China is openly pursuing a policy of reducing its dependency on the world. That's completely okay. That's their right. But while increasing the world's dependency on itself. You know, the examples, for example, whether it's on critical raw materials or the renewable energy on emerging tech like artificial intelligence, quantum computing or biotech.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Honourable members, having this clear eyed assessment of the Chinese Communist Party's actions and direction of travel, actually including its relations with Putin's Russia and its attitude towards the war in Ukraine, is a prerequisite for today's discussion, and it will allow us to develop an approach that is tailored to our economic and national security imperatives.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, One that we all can rally around and one that is clearly understood in Europe, in the world,and crucially, also in China itself. And this last point is one of the key reasons I felt it was important to make the trip to Beijing alongside President Macron.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, It was a chance to discuss with President Xi the shared challenges that we need to work on together, whether in our bilateral trading relations or on global issues like debt relief, climate change and nuclear non-proliferation. But equally important, the trip was necessary to ensure that we are as honest and clear in our messaging in Beijing as we are in Brussels or here in Strasbourg.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, This is a core part of our efforts to derisk through diplomacy, by reducing the space for misunderstanding and miscommunication, regardless of how difficult the conversations may be. The point I made in Beijing is that we do not want to cut economic, societal, political and scientific ties. We have many strong links and China is a vital trading partner. Our trade represents some €2.3 billion a day.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Most of our trade in goods and services remains mutually beneficial. But there is an urgent need to rebalance our relationship on the basis of transparency, predictability and reciprocity. What we want is China to respect the level playing field when it comes to access for our companies to the Chinese market. To respect transparency about subsidies. To respect the intellectual property.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, And beyond this, we also know that there are some areas where trade and investment poses risks to our economic and national security, in particular in the context of China's explicit fusion of its military and commercial sectors. And this is why the central part of our future China strategy must be economic derisking.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, There are four areas for us to work on, which I want very briefly to touch on. The first is taking a critical look at our own resilience and dependency and making our own economy and industry more competitive and more resilient. And this is the work we have been doing together, you know it, it began in the investment in the green and the digital through Next Generation EU, two of the pillars of our industrial policy and the landmarked acts, you know too.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, It's the Chips Act, it's the Critical Raw Materials Act and it's the Net Zero Industry Act. Leaders signed up to it in Versailles during the French presidency. So, now we must keep strengthening our resilience and sovereignty in key areas. You know them all. It's energy, it's health and pharmaceutical products, it's food security, but also, of course, when it comes to our defence capabilities.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, The second point is becoming bolder and better in using our existing trade defence instruments. We have given ourselves the right tools to deal with security concern and economic distortions. So, we must be more assertive in using them when we need them. And I want to take this opportunity to thank the Parliament for its leadership in agreeing on the new anti-corruption instrument just a few weeks ago.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, The third element is the need to look at where we need to work on new tools for some critical sectors. We need to ensure that our companies' capital, their expertise, their knowledge and not used to enhance the military and intelligence capabilities of those who also are our systemic rivals. That can not be.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, So we have to look at where there are gaps in our toolbox which allow the leakage of emerging and sensitive technologies through investments in other countries. And this is why we are currently reflecting on if and how Europe should develop an instrument on outbound investment for very small number but very sensitive technologies. This will form part of a new economic security strategy, which the Commission will put forward in the coming months.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, The fourth principle is cooperation with partners, whether on economic security on trade, whether with partners we are close to in the G-7, all with those with whom we have looser ties, but some shared interests. This will be a core part of diversification and the strengthening of the resilience of our supply chains to reduce our own vulnerabilities.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, Honourable Members, as the High Representative said in 2019, the Commission and the EEAS collectively proposed the strategic update of our China policy. Since then, the world has changed enormously. China has changed. Europe has changed. And that's why our European strategy has to adapt to.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, A few weeks ago, when I gave my speech on China, I said a strong European China policy relies on strong coordination between Member States and EU institutions. And on the willingness to avoid a divide and conquer tactics that we know we may face.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the EC, We have already, in the recent days and weeks, seen those tactics in action, and it is now time for Europe to move to action, too. Now is the time to demonstrate our collective will. It is time to jointly defined what success looks like and to show that unity that makes us so strong. And in this sense, I say, long live Europe. Thank you.