The rise of China: Europe looks beyond the US

Mika Hentunen, co-author of a soon-to-be-published book about China called "The New Superpower," said European Union summits are paying increasingly more attention to China in the new era of Trump. (Illustration generated by Wix AI)

By ELENA HUANG

Global Business Journalism reporter

Europe is looking toward China both as a trading partner and as a source of stability in a world unsettled by US President Donald Trump’s tariff wars and rapid foreign policy shifts, veteran European journalist Mika Hentunen told Tsinghua University students.

Hentunen, Asia correspondent for YLE Finnish broadcasting, said persistent economic stagnation, security concerns about Russia in the wake of its war with Ukraine, and a looming trade conflict with the United States have contributed to a sense of unease across the continent from Britain to Poland. Meanwhile, Trump’s attacks on NATO and his embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin have created doubts about a close historical ally.

“We cannot rely on the US that much anymore,” Hentunen, who has been based in Beijing since 2023, told Global Business Journalism students on March 18.

The erosion of economic trust in the US pushed Europe into rethinking its recently frayed relationship China as the world watches what Hentunen described as the “rivalry of the century” unfold between Beijing and Washington in Donald Trump’s second term.

Europe: From worrying about Russia to questioning the US

Hentunen said Europe in general – and his home country of Finland in particular – has been whipsawed in recent years by global events. A large majority of Finns had historically opposed joining NATO, with neutrality being part of their national identity. But the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 flipped public opinion in a matter of weeks from about 70% against NATO membership to 70% in favor.

Finland became a NATO member state in 2023. Its companies began looking westward after losing historical trade relations with eastern neighbor Russia. However, many Finns are rethinking their transatlantic ties as Trump threatens to leave the alliance.

“They’re worried about what happens with NATO,” said Hentunen, who has been stationed in Washington twice and Brussels once in his three-decade career.

The economic fallout from Trump is widespread across Europe but particularly serious in small countries like Finland, which rely on only a few industries such as shipbuilding. Finland will now have to reconsider its economic and security dependency on the US and seek alternatives, Hentunen said. China is a potential option.

Looking to China again: Europe’s alternatives

Hentunen, co-author of a soon-to-be-published book about China called "The Next Superpower," said European Union summits are paying increasingly more attention to China in the new era of Trump. EU nations are considering “warming relations” with the Asian power to counterbalance “America First” antipathy, he added.

Europe, faced with a rapidly growing aging population, is interested in Chinese technologies like robotics and AI, including those that cater for the needs of the elderly. Europeans could potentially benefit from Chinese technological solutions, such as robot caretaking, where no home-grown innovation is taking place.

“China is really number one in robotics by far,” Hentunen said. “Europe is very much behind in this.”

Mika Hentunen: Europe is searching quickly to find additional partners rather than rely on a single dominant one in a multipolar world. (GBJ photo by Rick Dunham)

Despite decades of frustration with Chinese government regulations that the EU says has stifled foreign investment, Europe also expects China to “open up” and address onerous regulations. Amid slowing growth at home, the Chinese government wants investing there to become easier, said Hentunen, since it could offer European companies a “huge opportunity” in a “huge market.”

But China is not the only alternative for European business. Europe is seeking to diversify its partnerships in Asia. Other leading options include India and Middle Eastern nations.

In the meantime, with Trump’s America looking increasingly hostile, the continent is searching quickly to find additional political and economic partners rather than rely on a single dominant one in what it sees as a newly “multipolar world.”

China, as Hentunen writes in his forthcoming book, is the new superpower in that multipolar world. India continues to rise. America, with its economic influence and military reach, is the reigning superpower. Europe, he argues, is struggling to find its place.

“Europe is old, weak, and very much heterogeneous,” said Hentunen.