The US and EU are poised to reboot a joint effort on how to handle an increasingly assertive China, days after working with the UK and Canada to impose sanctions on officials over human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, will relaunch the US-EU China dialogue with Josep Borrell, EU foreign policy chief, on Wednesday in Brussels, according to people familiar with the plan.
The dialogue was set up just before Donald Trump lost his bid for re-election in November but it failed to gain traction, partly because of frustration at the approach of the former president. The state department declined to comment.
The decision to renew the dialogue, which will focus on areas such as human rights and security, comes two months after the inauguration of Joe Biden as US president at a pivotal moment in Washington’s relations with Beijing.
In addition to imposing sanctions over the treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang on Monday, the US last week