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China’s President Xi Jinping has declined an preliminary invitation to go to Brussels for a summit to mark the fiftieth anniversary of ties, because the EU questions the sincerity of latest Chinese language overtures.
Beijing informed EU officers that China’s second-ranked chief Premier Li Qiang would meet the presidents of the European Council and Fee in Brussels for the summit reasonably than Xi, two individuals acquainted with the matter mentioned.
The internet hosting of EU-China summits historically alternates between Brussels and Beijing. The premier often attends the summit in Brussels, and Xi hosts it in Beijing, however the EU believes the significance of this assembly — to commemorate half a century of diplomatic relations — implies that China’s president ought to attend, the individuals mentioned.
Either side mentioned talks continued, however the preliminary snub has confirmed the view amongst many in Brussels that China is not going to add concrete motion to its heat phrases about the necessity to co-operate within the face of US President Donald Trump’s assault on the multilateral world order.
This 12 months’s summit comes at a very delicate time for EU-China relations.
Tensions between Brussels and Beijing have grown since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with the EU accusing China of backing the Kremlin. The bloc has additionally imposed tariffs on Chinese language electrical car imports, claiming they’re subsidised.
EU officers say China, which final 12 months had a €304.5bn commerce deficit with the bloc, just isn’t doing sufficient to rebalance commerce by decreasing subsidies for its industries and decreasing commerce boundaries for international corporations doing enterprise on this planet’s second-largest economic system.
“The relationship is on ice,” mentioned a senior EU diplomat. “It is a change of tone not substance. Their policy is not going to change and the same is true for us.”
Lu Shaye, China’s former outspoken ambassador to France who’s now Beijing’s particular consultant for European affairs, mentioned China’s coverage in the direction of Europe had at all times “advocated peace, friendship, co-operation,and mutual benefit”.
“This has never changed. It is just that the contrast with the current US policy towards Europe makes China’s policy towards Europe appear even more visionary, fair and reasonable. I hope this could serve as a wake-up call [for Europe],” he mentioned.
Often called a “wolf warrior” diplomat for his aggressive diplomacy, Lu brought on an uproar in Europe final 12 months when he questioned whether or not Crimea was a part of Ukraine and the sovereignty of former Soviet republics similar to EU members Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.
His appointment to handle China’s diplomatic relationship with Europe was seen by some commentators as a hardening of Beijing’s stance, however on the similar time, one other EU diplomat mentioned, “there is a Chinese charm offensive under way”.
“China even said that they expect Europe to have a seat at the negotiating table [in Ukraine peace talks],” the diplomat added. “I also hear less talk about EU-China trade frictions. They still exist, but there is less focus on it.”
The EU’s commerce chief Maroš Šefčovič is about to go to China on the finish of this month. Spanish international minister José Manuel Albares informed the Monetary Occasions final month that the EU also needs to see potential alternatives. When China “can be a partner — let’s take advantage of that”, Albares mentioned.
Ursula von der Leyen, European Fee president, mentioned in February that whereas the EU would preserve “de-risking” by defending its business, “we can find agreements that could even expand our trade and investment ties”.
Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs on metal and aluminium have compelled the EU to reply, whilst business teams warn of the injury it’ll trigger. However a senior EU official mentioned a essential focus when it got here to China was defensive measures to maintain out “a wave” of Chinese language merchandise displaced from the US market by the tariffs.
On Friday the EU opened an anti-dumping investigation towards Chinese language exports of adipic acid, used to provide nylon and lots of different merchandise. It’s the eleventh case since October, together with these concerning sweetcorn, steel screws and candles.
“Informal discussions are ongoing both about setting the date for the EU China summit this year and the level of representation,” mentioned an EU official.
China’s ministry of international affairs mentioned it didn’t have “any information to provide” concerning the matter.
