EU to issue firm words at China summit with limited expectations

BRUSSELS - Top European Union officials will raise an array of concerns, from

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

to trade irritants, in a summit with Chinese leaders on Dec 7 that is expected to be long on firm words, but short on outcomes.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, European Council president Charles Michel and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in the morning and Premier Li Qiang in the afternoon on their one-day visit to Beijing.

There will be no joint statement from the talks on Dec 7, EU officials said, and they do not expect concrete outcomes from the

first in-person EU-China summit

since 2019.

“There’s not a single outstanding deliverable that will be crowning the summit,” said one EU official.

By contrast,

Mr Xi’s meeting with United States President Joe Biden in California in November

did produce agreements, although simmering differences remained, particularly over Taiwan.

The EU will also have questions on Chinese intentions towards Taiwan, but its focus will be on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The EU wants Beijing to use its influence on Russia to stop the war, and will stress the need to respect sanctions on Russia and raise the issue of growing arms supply from North Korea to Russia.

The bloc is also concerned about what it considers “imbalanced” economic relations, saying its near €400 billion (S$579 billion) trade deficit with China reflects restrictions on EU businesses.

China will be expected to ask about an EU anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese electric vehicles and about the EU’s “de-risking” policy to reduce its reliance on Chinese imports, particularly of critical raw materials.

EU officials say the two sides could cooperate more on action to combat climate change and to promote biodiversity.

They also point to a series of dialogues set up on macroeconomics and trade. These include the EU’s planned CO2 emissions import tariff and the circular economy, and a possible increase in the number of food products whose names would be protected – such as only applying the term “feta” to a specific Greek cheese.

“These are not, per se, major summit deliverables... but in certain areas there are mutual interests and we can make a difference by working technically and practically together,” an EU official said. REUTERS