Thread on EU-US cooperation on #China after @SecPompeo acceptance today of @JosepBorrellF dialogue channel today. I understand that Washington had been pushing a similar idea when new EU team came in last December but were rebuffed -- or let's be generous and say redirected -1-

There were concerns on the Brussels side that a direct China channel would be used by Washington to press EU to pick sides and adopt US hardening approach to Beijing on everything from 5G to geopolitics. So EU said happy to talk with you but let's do it through the trade,-2-

digital/tech prism where we already have Transatlantic dialogue. That was seen as safer on EU side although a bunch of voices in the foreign policy think tank world and within institutions would have liked something more structured, durable. Then on June 15th, we get the -3-

European foreign mins call with @SecPompeo and @JosepBorrellF at conclusion, summing up, suggests "a distinct, bilateral dialogue focussing on China and the challenges its actions and ambitions mean for us - the United States and the European Union." Seems like a gamechanger -4-

But @JosepBorrellF moved in presser after to downplay. "I suggested the possibility to continue engaging in a bilateral dialogue focusing on China & the challenges that the more assertive attitude of China is bringing to the world stage. It was a suggestion that I put on the"-5-

table during my conclusion, but nothing more than that." Next day, I pressed him on that in an interview. He was starker. "I wouldn’t give too much importance… So at the end I said, maybe it will require to continue talking about it. Maybe we have to go for a permanent or..."-6-

bilateral (channel). What I wanted to say is that we have to continue talking about our relationship with China, to discuss more, to discuss deeper which are our positions – not once in a while.” That's it. US gave no clear response at the time. Then @SecPompeo welcomes today -7-

But it's clear @SecPompeo vision of this joint channel is far broader, more impactful than @JosepBorrellF. In fact, it sounds very much like precisely the kind of mechanism the EU moved to deflect late last year when the U.S. floated closer cooperation. Pompeo said hopes it...-8-

will be up & running in a few weeks. "So we will certainly start it at a senior level where we will outline the mission set. And then, while I don’t know exactly what shape it will take I am confident that we will set up a structure that will enhance our collective shared"-9-

knowledge and our collective responses to ensuring that we protect freedom for every democracy on both sides of the Atlantic." Note this is talking about joint action, responses. Not just dialogue. "I'm excited about this," @SecPompeo told @bopanc in Brussels Forum Interview.-10-

He went on: He expects "we will have teams in place identified in the next few weeks and then real work to begin. It’s something that has a starting point...but I don’t know that there is an end point. This is something that I expect will go on for an extended period of time"-11-

When @bopanc asked him, noting EU expertise at bogging things down in committees for years, whether @SecPompeo feared that would happen with this initiative, SoS was emphatic: "I’m very hopeful that this will be different from that...The first thing we’ll have to do..."-12-

"is make sure we have a collective data set. We can’t take collective action unless you have a shared understanding of the core facts... Once we’re confident that we have a shared of the threat that is posed by the Chinese Communist Party, then we can begin to take action."-13-

"There’s a lot of work that has been done already,…What we’re counting on is this dialogue, won’t be a resistance or, as you described, as an outlet for energy with no action but rather A CATALYST FOR ACTION." That's a very different vision from @JosepBorrellF. -14-

And I suspect from Brussels in general. Though we'll have to see whether @vonderleyen decides to engage on it and work with it. Crucial will be what member states say about it and how they line up on it. But we're about to see whether Europe really wants to avoid taking sides-15-

or is ready to accept that this is not a US-Sino confrontation Europe can sit out of without a major cost to the already troubled Transatlantic relaitonship and potentially its own interests. END - 16-