Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever has urged European Union leaders to adopt a coordinated strategy to respond to what he described as China’s pursuit of economic
dominance, warning that fragmented initiatives are no match for Beijing’s long-term planning.
Speaking on Tuesday at an event in Brussels hosted by the think tanks Friends of Europe and Jacques Delors Institute, De Wever said Europe risks being strategically outmaneuvered if it fails to act collectively.
“China has a strategy. A strategy will eat our initiatives for breakfast,” he said, arguing that European responses remain too scattered and reactive.
He also expressed concern over reports that French President Emmanuel Macron is seeking to bring China into coordination discussions ahead of next week’s G7 summit. Leaders at the gathering are expected to focus heavily on Beijing’s trade practices and broader economic policies.
De Wever criticised what he sees as Europe’s reluctance to explicitly name China in official discussions. Upcoming EU talks in Brussels on 18–19 June are expected to address the issue under the label “geo-economic imbalances,” a framing he suggested reflects political caution.
The Belgian leader has been among the more outspoken European figures on China’s economic influence. In March, he wrote to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warning that Chinese industrial policy is undermining Europe’s manufacturing base.
At the same time, De Wever cautioned against adopting blunt countermeasures such as broad tariffs or subsidy escalation, arguing they would either be ineffective or ultimately harmful to European consumers and industry.
Instead, he has advocated for tighter enforcement of existing EU trade defence tools, stricter reciprocity rules for Chinese firms operating in Europe, and efforts to reduce strategic dependencies in critical sectors.
He also framed Europe’s broader role as offering an alternative global model based on rules-based trade and institutional stability, positioning the EU as a “pole star” for countries navigating between the competing economic spheres of Washington and Beijing. Photo by © European Union, 1998 – 2026, Wikimedia commons.