The EU and Japan on Friday signed an infrastructure agreement to link Europe and Asia as a counter to China's ambitious "Belt and Road" strategy. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker inked the accord to coordinate infrastructure, transport and digital projects. The deal is part of the bloc's "Asia connectivity" strategy, launched last year amid growing international concerns about Beijing's vast "new Silk Road" of railways, roads and ports across the globe using billions of dollars in Chinese loans.
The EU-Japan agreement repeatedly stresses the importance of projects being sustainable both environmentally and fiscally - a veiled swipe at the Belt and Road scheme, which critics say saddles countries with vast debts to Chinese companies that they cannot repay. "Connectivity must be sustainable in financial terms - we must bequeath to the next generation a more interconnected world, a cleaner environment and not mountains of debt," Juncker said before the signing ceremony.
"It's also a question of creating interconnections between all countries in the world and not merely dependence on one country." Abe said that together Japan and the EU could build "sustainable, comprehensive and rules-based connectivity". "Of course it goes without saying that in order to make the connectivity linking Japan and Europe something rock solid, the Indo-Pacific - the sea route that leads to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic - must be free and open," Abe said.
He was alluding to concerns that China is seeking to use the Belt and Road, particularly port projects in Asia, to dominate navigation routes. As part of growing EU-Japan cooperation, Juncker said the commission was recommending opening talks with Tokyo on sharing air passenger data to improve aviation security. While the EU insists its push on infrastructure connections to Asia is not intended as a rival to China, privately senior officials acknowledge that it was a factor that pushed them to act.
Comments
Comments are closed.