The EU should develop a 'more robust' stance toward China amid signs that Asia is replacing the United States as the center of global power, said EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell.

According to him, "analysts have long talked about the end of an American-led system and the arrival of an Asian century. This is now happening in front of our eyes," Reuters reported.

According to him, the pandemic could be seen as a turning point in the power shift from West to East, and that for the EU the “pressure to choose sides is growing.”

He noted that the EU “should follow our own interests and values and avoid being instrumentalised by one or the other.”

Although China’s growth was “impressive,” the current relationship between Brussels and Beijing is not always based on trust, transparency, and reciprocity, he said.

Borrell said “we only have a chance if we deal with China with collective discipline,” noting that an upcoming EU-China summit this autumn could be an opportunity to do so.

“We need a more robust strategy for China, which also requires better relations with the rest of democratic Asia,” he added.