The claim is followed by a telling qualification: cooperation will happen "in particular in UN fora": that is where China has been most successful at engineering coalitions to fight political human rights.
Another case concerns maritime issues: China, the EU and its member states "respect the maritime order based on international law and uphold freedoms of navigation and overflight enjoyed by all states in accordance with international law". This is in marked retreat to the declaration of G7 foreign affairs ministers adopted only 2 days before the summit with China. On Asia-Europe connectivity (e.g. Silk Road and European funds), cooperation will "comply with established international norms and standards, as well as the law of the countries benefitting from the projects, while taking into account their policies and individual situations". Which will it be ?
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