Rather than just follow the US and Nato's lead, Europe must clearly draw their own red line and lay out the consequences of China overstepping it, said Janka Oertel, director of the Asia programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
"This Chinese really need to understand what the stakes are. This is an opportunity for Europeans to say, 'This is your problem, you could have stayed away like in 2014 [during Russia's annexation of Crimea], but you chose not to - so you own this'," said Dr Oertel.