Europe must plot its own course on China

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.

Distracted by the festive season, few had seen the move coming.

Europe's big political guns only hastily showed their face...