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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 instructed 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 quite than Xi, two individuals acquainted with the matter mentioned.
The internet hosting of EU-China summits historically alternates between Brussels and Beijing. The premier normally 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 — signifies 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 yr’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 automobile imports, claiming they’re subsidised.
EU officers say China, which final yr had a €304.5bn commerce deficit with the bloc, is just not doing sufficient to rebalance commerce by decreasing subsidies for its industries and decreasing commerce boundaries for overseas corporations doing enterprise on the earth’s second-largest financial system.
“The connection is on ice,” mentioned a senior EU diplomat. “It’s a change of tone not substance. Their coverage is just not going to vary and the identical 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 profit”.
“This has by no means modified. It’s simply that the distinction with the present US coverage in the direction of Europe makes China’s coverage in the direction of Europe seem much more visionary, honest and affordable. I hope this might function a wake-up name [for Europe],” he mentioned.
Referred to as a “wolf warrior” diplomat for his aggressive diplomacy, Lu brought on an uproar in Europe final yr when he questioned whether or not Crimea was a part of Ukraine and the sovereignty of former Soviet republics akin 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’s a Chinese language allure offensive underneath manner”.
“China even mentioned that they count on Europe to have a seat on the negotiating desk [in Ukraine peace talks],” the diplomat added. “I additionally hear much less speak about EU-China commerce frictions. They nonetheless exist, however there may be much less deal with it.”
The EU’s commerce chief Maroš Šefčovič is about to go to China on the finish of this month. Spanish overseas minister José Manuel Albares told the Financial Times last month that the EU also needs to see potential alternatives. When China “is usually a associate — let’s benefit from that”, Albares mentioned.
Ursula von der Leyen, European Fee president, mentioned in February that whereas the EU would preserve “de-risking” by defending its trade, “we will discover agreements that would even increase our commerce and funding ties”.
Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs on metal and aluminium have compelled the EU to reply, whilst trade teams warn of the injury it would 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 plenty of different merchandise. It’s the eleventh case since October, together with these concerning sweetcorn, metallic screws and candles.
“Casual discussions are ongoing each about setting the date for the EU China summit this yr and the extent of illustration,” mentioned an EU official.
China’s ministry of overseas affairs mentioned it didn’t have “any info to supply” concerning the matter.
