Europe must plot its own course on China Xi Jinping with Emmanuel Macron. 'Australia, New Zealand and Japan, proud democracies all, are no friends of China. It did not stop them from inking their own trade deal with China, only days after the Biden's election' (Photo: cn.ambafrance.org) Brussels, 11. Jan, 07:03 That 2020 would end with an old-fashioned bang and not with a whimper was written in the stars. As it turned out, it wasn't Boris Johnson who provided the fireworks, but Brussels itself, provoking fury by announcing a deal with China on a long-touted but hugely controversial investment and trade pact.