EU-China summit ends with recriminations

BrusselsThe return of the third wheel, Donald Trump, made the European Union and China give themselves a second chance. In recent years, the European and Asian powers had been drifting apart, both for geopolitical reasons—especially over Ukraine and Russia—and due to trade conflicts. However, constant threats from the White House pushed Brussels and Washington to try again, and they made important diplomatic gestures toward better understanding, such as organizing a summit between top European and Chinese leaders, which was held in Beijing this Thursday.

The intention was to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the beginning of diplomatic relations between the EU and China, but in recent days, the recriminations between the two sides have increased and have returned to the tensions seen before Trump. In fact, the meeting was held in the Chinese capital because EU leaders feared that if they held it in Brussels, Xi Jinping would not attend in person. In the end, it will only last one day, although they initially wanted it to be extended until Friday as well.

The leaders' words, especially Xi's, have been rather diplomatic and well-intentioned. But Ursula von der Leyen also wanted to send a clear warning to Beijing. "We have reached a turning point. Rebalancing our trade relationship is essential," declared the President of the European Commission. For his part, the President of the European Council, António Costa, lamented that the understanding between the leaders remains merely words and demanded that "concrete progress is needed" in trade relations.

Currently, the European bloc's trade deficit with the Asian giant is substantial: in 2024 it was €300 billion, according to the European Commission itself. Regarding this gap between what the EU imports from Chinese industry and what it exports, both Von der Leyen and Costa have criticized Beijing for making it difficult for European companies to access China and for receiving large state subsidies to export at very competitive prices and flood the market with very cheap products. In other words, Brussels generally accuses China of dumping, and for this reason, the European Commission has opened 79 investigations against China between 2020 and 2024.

One of the sectors that most concerns Brussels is the electric car sector. It has complained that, regarding certain products, China refuses to export them to the European Union, which endangers the security of European industrial value chains. The pandemic has been a major concern.

In this context, Xi Jinping admitted in a statement that relations between the two powers are at a "critical" moment, but he did not budge on anything that would allow for a rebalancing of trade transactions with the EU. It should be remembered that for China, exports to the European bloc are essential, as it is its main trading partner, while for the European Union, the Asian giant is its third-largest partner.

Beijing ignores the war in Ukraine

In the statement issued by Beijing, there is no trace of the war in Ukraine or the expansionism of Vladimir Putin's regime. In fact, the Ukrainian conflict remains one of the most delicate points in relations between Brussels and Beijing. Although the President of the European Council has once again asked the Chinese president to "use his influence" on the Kremlin to stop the war, Xi Jinping has acted as if he were waiting for it to rain and has maintained the same relations as always with Moscow, without imposing any kind of sanctions. In fact, according to a report this Monday by the South China Morning Post, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi admitted to his European counterpart, Kaja Kallas, that Beijing was not interested in ending the war in Ukraine because it would divert the attention of the United States and prevent the Pentagon from focusing more on China.