‘China ... is now more a competitor and a systemic rival: Our dependencies toward China in the key sectors are our vulnerability,’ Kaja Kallas said.
China must bear a “higher cost” for its support in keeping Russia’s war machine going, the European Union’s foreign policy chief-designate said on Nov. 12.
“Without China’s support to Russia, Russia would not be able to continue its war with the same force,” Kaja Kallas told lawmakers during her confirmation
hearing in Brussels. “China needs to also feel the higher cost.”
Kallas, a
former prime minister of Estonia, was tapped in July to succeed Spain’s
Josep Borrell as high representative of the union for foreign affairs and security policy and vice president of the European Commission, becoming the bloc’s top diplomatic voice.
While members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have the power to reject the European Commissioners-designate, Kallas was widely expected to sail through the approval process.
During the three-hour session, she addressed a wide array of topics, tackling issues related to multiple global conflict hotspots—from the ongoing wars in Ukraine to the EU’s approach toward the incoming Trump administration, along with strategies for countering China’s growing influence in Africa.
Kallas identified “two pressing issues” in engaging with a more aggressive China: the structural imbalances between Brussels and Beijing that foster unfair competition and China’s backing of Russia amid the Ukraine conflict.
The EU has designated China as “a partner for cooperation, an economic
competitor, and a systemic rival,” a strategy first unveiled in
2019. As bilateral tension rises, analysts have repeatedly urged the EU to sharpen its
political stance against the Chinese communist regime, particularly after Western officials found China beefing up Moscow’s war machine.
At the hearing, Kallas emphasized the rival nature of the EU–China relationship but omitted reference to the partnership aspect.
“China has changed over the past few years. It is now more a competitor and a systemic rival: Our dependencies toward China in the key sectors are our vulnerability,” she said. “We need to de-risk.”
She also reaffirmed her view of China as one of the four malign forces attempting to exploit the EU’s societal openness, a point she elaborated on in a
21-page response to lawmakers’ questions ahead of the hearings.
“I see actors such as Russia, China, North Korea, [and] Iran aiming to change the rules-based international order,” she told MEPs.
“I see China and Russia weaponizing interdependencies and exploiting the openness of our societies against us. We must be aware of what the threat is and respond accordingly, together with our closest allies and partners and without losing one inch of who we are.”
When later asked about the EU’s response to the collaboration between these authoritarian states, Kallas stated, “We have to be very clear that it has consequences.”
“China’s support for Russia, for example, we should signal to China that it has a higher cost for them,” she said, without specifying.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kallas has
emerged as one of the EU’s strongest critics of the Kremlin. Earlier this year, the Russian Interior Ministry
added her to its “wanted” list due to unspecified criminal charges.
Before being
appointed to the top diplomat position by EU leaders in July, Kallas made history as the
first female head of government in Estonia, a small Baltic nation that regained its independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. She also
served as a MEP from 2014 to 2018.
