How have China and the U.S. reacted to the Brexit delay?

World
Europe

Editor's note: Bobby Naderi is a journalist, a current affairs commentator, a documentary filmmaker, and a member of the Writers Guild of Great Britain. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

On March 14, the curtain finally fell on the wretched soap opera of Brexit.

After jittery debates and political rivalries between hard-core Remainers and Brexiteers, members of parliament voted to reject leaving the European Union (EU) without a deal, and delay the planned exit date, March 29.

Now all Prime Minister Theresa needs to do is ask for an extension from backbenchers to save her political legacy. This might be in the form of a long extension or at least until June 30, which is just before a new European Parliament will be seated.

On the other side of the British Channel, though, reports from Brussels are rather optimistic. The EU might, at some point, approve an extension “because it's not seen in anyone's interest” for the UK to leave the Eurozone economies. Guess what? It is.

A tale of two presidents

It's a normal for president of the world's biggest economy to catch fish from troubled waters.

President Donald Trump is in the know that the current Brexit standoff between the UK and the EU is a windfall; it could turn into an epic catch to haul into his administration's growing dysfunction and irrelevance in today's multilateral world.

At this point, for President Trump and his neocon faction, the official Brexit date of March 29 or any extension are irrelevant. As far as the Trumpsters are concerned, the Brexit purgatory can last for eternity; it helps to exploit and politicize the situation to their own advantage.

President Trump signs the first veto of his administration to reject a bipartisan resolution that sought to block his declaration of a national emergency at the border on March 15, 2019. /VCG Photo

On March 14, the same day British lawmakers voted to delay Brexit, the former businessman-turned-president did just that. He stole the spotlight and threatened to bring down Brussels with "severe" trade tariffs and economic pain.

Trump told reporters, “We're going to tariff a lot of their products coming in because the European Union treats us very unfairly.”

He then urged the EU to address what the White House has long claimed is unfair trading practices, “and if they don't talk to us we're going to do something that would be pretty severe economically.”

In many respects, the same argument cannot be made against Trump's Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping. Xi doesn't need to catch any fish from Europe's muddy waters, and surely he sees no economic and political interests in putting the struggling EU and Eurozone economies in a straight-jacket.

On the contrary, President Xi Jinping will visit Italy for trade and investment talks on March 22. The trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) will take the center, too, because it has already linked the Asian behemoth to Central and Eastern Europe, including Italy, Greece, and Portugal.

To be clear, unlike his American counterpart, during his visit, President Xi has no plans to add fuel to the deep trans-Atlantic rift, or throw UK off the cliff over its decision to leave the EU. This is not to project Beijing's alleged influence at the expense of the host country, either.

The view of the outside venue of the Belt and Road Forum, which was held in Beijing on May 15, 2017. /VCG Photo

However, the visit will go against Trump's one-man approach to make Eurozone economies a captive of a tariff war. To that end, he can't wait to sign “Section 232" report from the U.S. Commerce Department. The report alleges that European exports of cars to the U.S. are a national security threat.

This has already frightened European powers. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in particular, has voiced dismay and described U.S. moves to declare European car imports "a threat to national security" as "frightening".

There is no mystery here, and this is not Trump's era. German Chancellor Merkel and other European leaders need not scratch their heads in wonder. There are ways for China and the EU to maintain dialogue and prevent further chaos and instability over such tactics. Most crucially, this could come through multilateral cooperation and within the framework of BRI.

Spirited pushback

It is now a telling yarn that China's Belt and Road Initiative is the salt of the earth. The base case remains that it's the future for global trade and prosperity.

The plus point in all this is that China has no national differing priorities and the scenario is not conditional on EU concessions to China on trade. The Asian giant won't drive a wedge between itself and host countries.

There are no bad options for Europe. It has a lot to gain from joining BRI. Statements from Chinese officials prove impossible to dilute this prediction that the global development program can help prop up the Eurozone economy and avoid a dire year ahead for both economies.

Both things can be true, that's according to Zhou Xiaofei, deputy secretary general of the National Development and Reform Commission, who has called for European companies to join the trillion-dollar global trade-and-infrastructure program.

Zhou Xiaofei, Deputy Secretary General of the National Development and Reform Commission on December 4, 2018. /VCG Photo

He has even pledged greater cooperation with American enterprises on mainly professional services, management, financing and joint-venture operations.

In his words, “The Belt and Road Initiative is not a private path of one party, but an avenue of sunshine for everyone to go forward. China is not singing solo, but in a chorus of countries along the Belt and Road.”

Given the diversity of host nations, it will be a historic blunder for the EU and Eurozone economies to turn “this beneficial competition into rivalry.” The trillion-dollar program is not an attempt by Beijing to subject EU exports and products into what some critics call “discriminatory, unpredictable and burdensome procedures.”

In brief, a rough translation of all this should go this: On March 22, when he meets President Xi Jinping in Rome, Giuseppe Conte, the 58th prime minister of Italy, will prove the Sino skeptics wrong. He will sign a memorandum of understanding to support China's BRI.

The hope is that this will tip the balance in favor of a decision by other Eurozone economies to also support the BRI, for global development and shared future.

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