Brussels insists the scheme is not a response to any other player, but its launch comes as the sheen fades on Beijing's "new Silk Road" initiative, which envisions railways, roads and ports being built across the globe using billions of dollars in Chinese loans.

Federica Mogherini, the EU's diplomatic chief, said talks have been going on for several months with a number of Asian countries that were "interested in looking at the European way".

"Our initiative will aim at creating jobs and economic growth and benefits for the local communities," she told reporters.

"I would not say if this is different from other's proposal but this is our proposal."

The new strategy comes after European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called for a more muscular EU foreign policy to match the bloc's economic clout, taking on not just US President Donald Trump's "America First" approach but also China's energetic involvement in Africa and Asia.

Maaike Okano-Heijmans, an EU-Asia relations expert at the Clingendael Institute in the Netherlands, said the initiative was a "very important step" after criticism of the EU in some quarters that it has been slow to respond to Chinese soft power plays.

"We cannot accuse them of not having a vision any more. The challenge is how to turn this into something that's really an alternative to some countries. Because that requires money and more money and more money," Okano-Heijmans told AFP, saying "nobody can rival Chinese money".

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