The biggest feeling from this visit by Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Europe is that the way China engages with Europe has changed. During the trip, we first took action against brandy, and then imposed countermeasures on European medical equipment. To be honest, it's probably the first time we've seen such consecutive actions during high-level dialogue with Europe. What does this mean? It means that the previous approach of being polite and refined in dealing with Europe may be coming to an end.

In our subsequent Sino-European diplomacy, we will deal with Europe in a more straightforward manner. Of course, the current situation in Sino-European relations has a lot to do with Europe's lofty and impractical attitude. We have released a lot of goodwill towards Europe, including lifting sanctions against pro-China European legislators, setting up a fast track for European companies to obtain rare earths, and granting visa exemptions to multiple European countries. But what did we get in return?

We got an increasingly unfriendly attitude from Europe toward China. These unfriendly actions include the EU canceling the China-EU high-level economic dialogue, as well as setting trade barriers against our new energy vehicles and medical equipment in trade issues, and demanding us to choose sides on the Ukraine issue. When the US harms our interests and extorts us, we respond in kind. But for Europe, we have repeatedly shown restraint, hoping that Sino-European differences can be properly handled.

However, our restraint has yielded no results. The tariff on new energy vehicles has made no progress, and Europe has not shown any sign of backing down on medical equipment. Since politeness doesn't seem to matter to Europe, we can only handle things in a formal manner. Obviously, our continuous actions are telling Europe that if they harm our interests, we will respond in kind. It's time for Europe to put aside its lofty attitude. The way China deals with Europe is not that we must fully accept all demands made by Europe. For the US, we respond in kind; for Europe, we won't always show a friendly face. We are also equal to Europe.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1836907606659081/

Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.