China, EU can work together to help others

With US President Donald Trump intensifying his attacks on globalization and free trade, the European Union has decided to expand its presence and influence on the global stage by largely increasing its "external action" budget. The European Commission has proposed to increase the external action budget to 123 billion euros ($143.34 billion) for the 2021-27 period compared with 94.5 billion euros for 2014-2020. The 30 percent hike in the "external action" budget is encouraging given the EC's slow growth.

That proposal, however, needs the approval of the European Parliament before it can be implemented.