US Secretary of State Antony Blinken‘s first videoconference with European Union foreign ministers last month was so good humoured that some diplomats in Europe described it as a “love fest”.

But two senior envoys who attended said there was no direct response from the ministers gathered in Brussels when Blinken said: “We must push back on China together and show strength in unity.”

Their reticence is partly due to an unwillingness to commit to anything until Washington spells out more fully its China policy under President Joe Biden.

But the ministers were also cautious because the EU is looking for a strategic balance in relations with Beijing and Washington that ensures the bloc is not so closely allied with one of the world’s two big powers that it alienates the other.

The EU also hopes to have enough independence from Washington and Beijing to be able on its own to deepen ties with countries in the Indo-Pacific region such as India, Japan and Australia, EU officials said.

In a new departure for the EU, they said, the bloc hopes to agree a plan next month that involves a larger and more assertive security presence in the Indo-Pacific, and more development aid, trade and diplomacy.
“We are charting a third way between Washington and Beijing,” an EU envoy in Asia said.Another EU official in Asia expressed concern that the United States had “a hawkish agenda against China, which is not our agenda”.

‘EUROPE ROADSHOW’
Last month’s videoconference was part of an attempt under Biden to rebuild alliances neglected by former U.S. President Donald Trump, who had an antagonistic relationship with both the EU and China.

The White House has embarked on a “Europe roadshow”, a senior U.S. official said, and is in daily contact with European governments about China’s rising power, in “a sustained effort for … a high degree of coordination and cooperation in a number of areas.”

In a sign that the U.S. push on China is having an impact, Germany plans to send a frigate in August to Asia and across the South China Sea, where Beijing has military outposts on artificial islands, senior government officials told Reuters.

The EU is also set to sanction four Chinese officials and one entity – with travel bans and asset freezes – on March 22 over human rights abuses in China’s Uighur Muslim minority, diplomats said.

In a further sign, when Chinese President Xi Jinping chaired a video summit with central and eastern European countries last month, six EU member states – Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovenia – sent ministers rather than heads of state.

But there is still distrust in Brussels of Washington’s approach to China, even if attitudes in Europe have hardened against China over Beijing’s crackdown in Hong Kong, treatment of Uighur Muslims and the COVID-19 pandemic, first identified in China.

The United States says China is an authoritarian country that has embarked on a military modernisation that threatens the West, and has sought to weaken telecommunications equipment maker Huawei, which it sees as a national security threat.

The U.S.-led NATO military alliance is also beginning to focus on China, but Biden’s administration is still reviewing policy.

“We ask what their China strategy is and they say they still don’t have one,” the EU official in Asia said.

French President Emmanuel Macron highlighted concerns in some EU states last month by saying that uniting against China would create “the highest possible” potential for conflict.

‘NO ALTERNATIVE’
But the EU is hungry for new trade and sees the Indo-Pacific as offering huge potential.

The EU has a trade deal with Japan and is negotiating one with Australia. Diplomats say countries in the Indo-Pacific want the EU to be more active in the region to keep trade free and open, and to ensure they are not left facing a straight choice between Beijing and Washington.

France committed to closer ties with allies such as Australia and India with an Indo-Pacific strategy in 2018, followed by the Netherlands, which also has its own strategy, and Germany’s looser set of “guidelines”.

The EU strategy, if agreed, could involve putting more EU military experts in EU diplomatic missions in Asia, training coast guards and sending more EU military personnel to serve on Australian ships patrolling in the Indian Ocean, diplomats said.

It is unclear how much Germany, which has close business ties to China, will commit to any new strategy. German government officials say the EU cannot afford to alienate Beijing despite labelling China a “systemic rival” in 2019.

But French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will travel to India in April to develop the EU’s Indo-Pacific strategy, and the EU aims to hold a summit with India this year.

France, which has 1.8 million citizens in Pacific overseas territories, has about 4,000 troops in the region, plus navy ships and patrol boats.

“The Indo-Pacific is the cornerstone of Europe’s geopolitical path,” said a French diplomat. “There’s no alternative.”

Developer says plan will ‘enhance the vitality of the local area’

A “derelict and overgrown site” next to a Merseyrail station in Birkenhead could be brought “back to life” as new plans have been put forward. Wirral Council has been told the new plan “supports economic activity” and “enhances the vitality of the local area”.

Plans have gone into Wirral Council for two commercial units to be built on the ground floor of a new building and one residential flat on the first floor. The development would be built on the corner of Station Road and Stanley Road in the north end of Birkenhead.

The site sits very close to Birkenhead North station, which offers a large park and ride car park as well as Ilchester Park. Diverse Design Collective who have pitched the plans to the local authority said it would be “bringing back to life a derelict and overgrown site in a prominent location”.

The two shops would cover an area of 64 square metres while the first floor flat would be accessed separately. A design and access statement document attached to the application said: “The proposed development site, owned by the applicant, is a large vacant plot that has been derelict and overgrown for some time.”

The document points to a number of buildings in the area including a nearby ASDA and Iceland. According to the planning application, this “provides precedent for more commercial appearing buildings in the context, meaning further commercial units would not appear out of place”.

The Diverse Design Collective said the plans “seek to open up and utilise a wasted site on a very prominent position within Birkenhead” with a “modest and proportionate” development. They said this “represents an efficient and appropriate use of a vacant urban site”.

Pointing to its computer generated images of how the site would look, the design statement said: “We feel these images adequately show that the proposals not only seamlessly connect with the context in materiality and scale, but subtly provide an engaging street scene that is simultaneously not overly prominent, yet activates the street.”

The document added: “We feel the proposed building would be suitable for the application site and would not feel out of place in scale or appearance to the surrounding dwellings of this area and will not impact the streetscape in any way.

“The proposed high-quality palette of materials would be in keeping with and compliment the character of the area and we feel the overall proposals will be a huge improvement on the appearance of the existing vacant and derelict site in such a prominent position. The predominant use of red brick will respect the surrounding dwellings and character of the adjacent train station, all of which are red brick.”

To find all the planning applications, traffic diversions, road layout changes, alcohol licence applications and more in your community, visit the Public Notices Portal.

Apple Inc. lost an early round in a discrimination lawsuit brought in the U.S. by a female engineer from India who says her two managers — one from her country, the other from Pakistan — treated her as they would in their own countries: as a subservient.

The woman’s case in California state court is the latest to allege workplace bias in Silicon Valley that focuses on cultural prejudices of some tech workers from South Asia. Cisco Systems Inc. is fighting a suit brought by California’s civil rights agency alleging bias against a member of India’s so-called lower castes, known as Dalits.

Anita Nariani Schulze is part of the Sindhi minority — she is Hindu, with ancestry in the Sindh region of what is now Pakistan. Her complaint alleges that her senior and direct managers, both male, consistently excluded her from meetings while inviting her male counterparts, criticized her, micromanaged her work, and deprived her of bonuses, despite positive performance evaluations and significant team contributions.

Schulze claims the managers’ animus reflects sexism, racism, religious bias and discrimination on the basis of national origin. The Sindhi Hindu nationality is “known for its technical acumen” and its gender equality, she says, which “exacerbated the managers’ discriminatory treatment.”

In a tentative ruling on Wednesday, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Sunil R. Kulkarni rejected Apple’s request to toss out the suit. While not ruling on the merits of the case, Kulkarni said Schulze had adequately supported her legal claims. Apple had argued her claims weren’t specific enough and were based on stereotypes.

But the judge rejected Schulze’s request to represent a class of female Apple employees who suffered job discrimination over the last four years. He agreed with Apple that she didn’t show a pattern of discrimination that could be applied to a broader group.