President Xi Jinping emphasized the “strategic importance” of relations between China and the European Union for global peace, stability and prosperity, and called on both sides to strengthen strategic communication, enhance understanding and manage differences through constructive dialogue. Xi made the remarks during a meeting in Beijing with President of the European Council Charles Michel and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, on the sidelines of the 24th China-EU Summit on December 7. He underlined the need for both sides to have a correct perception of each other, enhance mutual trust, and honor commitments in developing China-EU relations.
In the afternoon, Premier Li Qiang co-chaired the 24th China-EU Summit with the two European leaders. Li said China hopes the EU will be prudent when introducing restrictive economic and trade policies and when using trade remedy measures, and it should keep trade and investment markets open.
In his meeting with Michel and von der Leyen, President Xi also said: “We should not see each other as an adversary because of different systems, reduce cooperation due to competition, or engage in confrontation because of disparities”. The meeting came at a time when mounting frictions have arisen in China-EU relations due to complicated factors ranging from geopolitical competition to trade imbalances. China is pushing back against an EU anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese electric vehicles and the EU’s “de-risking” policy to reduce its reliance on Chinese imports. It maintains that “de-risking” and “reducing dependence” should not evolve into throwing away and weakening cooperation. President Xi said that China and the EU should work together to be partners in mutually beneficial cooperation, the China Daily reports.
Trade between China and the EU reached USD847.3 billion in 2022, a 2.4% increase over the previous year, according to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM). Two-way investment amounts to more than USD230 billion. The European Union leaders pushed China to stop its firms from selling sanctioned goods to the Russian military. They added that EU-members will not look favorably on a failure to act. “We have identified a list of companies which are suspected to play a role in circumventing sanctions and we had the occasion to make this clear both in preparation for this summit, but also during the summit,” said Michel. “We hope today we are heard and then the appropriate action will be taken by China,” Michel said at a press conference in Beijing, adding that “member states will have to decide what further actions will be taken”. A total of 13 Chinese firms risk to be added to the sanctions list. “We recalled the need for China to use all of its influence on Russia to stop this war of aggression and to engage in Ukraine’s peace formula,” von der Leyen said.
The EU leaders emphasized cooperation with China in areas including governance of artificial intelligence (AI) and climate change. They welcomed China’s signing of a pledge on methane emissions at the COP 28 summit, but also asked Beijing to do more to shutter coal-fired plants. “China has started its global AI governance initiative and the EU is right now finalizing its first AI Act to ensure that AI complies with our fundamental rights and our values,” von der Leyen said. “So even if our governance models are different, we agreed that we should seek to cooperate on artificial intelligence at the global level.” The European side also complained about what it sees as unfair competition from China. “Politically, European leaders will not be able to tolerate that our industrial base is undermined by unfair competition,” said von der Leyen, who launched an investigation into subsidies in China’s electric vehicle sector earlier this year. “We insist on fair competition within the single market, therefore, we also insist on fair competition from companies that come to our single market, and I’m glad that we agreed with President Xi that trade should be balanced between the two of us,” said von der Leyen. “I want to be very clear here that Europe does not want to decouple from China,” von der Leyen said. “We have seen a decoupling Europe from Russia for good reasons. We do not want a decoupling from China. What we want is de-risking,” she added. Michel suggested that China’s export restrictions on critical minerals proved the need for the de-risking strategy. “Graphite is fundamental for the defense industry,” he said. “China has decided to limit the export of graphite, and this has consequences for our sovereignty and strategic autonomy. “This example shows what’s at stake in the EU – we must better protect our interests,” Michel said.
The summit took place to a delicate backdrop. A day earlier, Italy decided to exit the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), leaving Xi’s flagship infrastructure drive without any G7 members. President Xi Jinping told the two EU leaders that the BRI was compatible with their own Global Gateway alternative – despite Brussels’ public assertions that they were not. According to the South China Morning Post, “sources are doubtful that the summit will alter the downward trajectory in the relationship, but in Brussels it proved that the adage rings true: it’s good to talk.”
This overview is based on reports by the China Daily and the South China Morning Post.
