United States and France agree upon ceasing the rising Chinese influence

Washington/ Paris : The rising Chinese influence across the globe can lead to a profoundly illiberal setup. Thus, the United States and France are on the same page to resist this grave possibility, US State Secretary Antony Blinken declared. Secretary Blinken is currently on a visit to Europe. This visit is to garner the support of the European ally-nations in the effort to cease China.

Two weeks ago, US President Joe Biden visited Europe along with a high-level delegation. During the visit, the United States and the NATO member countries took an aggressive stance against China in the G-7 and NATO Summit. Following the G-7 and NATO Summit, the US-EU Summit also took place. In this summit, the United States and European Union took significant decisions to challenge China’s rising influence in the fields of trade and technology. They agreed to maintain connect over the issue of stopping China.

Against this background, the visit of the US State Secretary to Europe is significant. ‘Our purpose is not to contain China or try to hold it back. But when it comes to defending a free and open international order, we will stand up,’ Secretary Blinken warned. Furthermore, he drew attention to the fact that a world of chaos inevitably leads to conflict and almost brings us to Chinese domination.

The responsibility of the democracies has been to reinforce a model challenged by its internal discord and autocracies provide a better choice to its people, Blinken further added. Moreover, US State Secretary Blinken said that French President Emmanuel Macron has concurred with him on this issue. By holding onto the common string of issues between the United States and France, Blinken, based on Chinese influence, Coronavirus and other such matters, expressed faith that the US-France cooperation and coordination would continue to be.

The US State Secretary also slammed the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. ‘The B3W project planned by the United States and its allies is a suitable alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The assistance by China to other nations has not been provided with positive and bonafide intentions. There is a hidden agenda behind it. Moreover, China has used the Coronavirus vaccine to pressurise other nations; Secretary Blinken criticised at the time.

Besides, former US President Donald Trump had begun pointing out the rising Chinese influence. However, Europe did not support Trump’s efforts. European nations did not participate in the anti-China campaign due to a massive Chinese investment in those nations. Moreover, China was a leading trading partner with those nations. However, there occurred severe discontent among European countries against China over the Coronavirus pandemic, human rights and other problems. The European nations now realised that stopping China has become a necessity.

Hence, the European Union jolted China by dismantling the agreement with China over trade and investment. Moreover, it is a significant development now that France – an important European country has agreed to cooperate with the United States against China. Earlier, France had taken a strategic decision to cooperate with India to protect its interests in the Indo-Pacific region. France uplifted its strategic cooperation with India by saying that the Chinese actions have caused imbalance and instability in the region.