Gradually, the high expectations for the summit between China and the European Union faded. What seemed at the beginning of the year to be a promising restart in bilateral relations, especially amid a globally turbulent scenario due to the earthquake of Donald Trump, turned sour when Brussels resumed its aggressive rhetoric and Beijing, emboldened after successfully facing Trump's trade war, began to tighten with new trade restrictions and expand its promises of eternal friendship to Russia and Vladimir Putin.
This Thursday marks the beginning of a summit in Beijing to celebrate the 50 years of diplomatic relations between China and the EU. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, arrived in the capital of the Asian giant for a brief visit as the Chinese side canceled a second day, more focused on trade, which was supposed to take place in a city in full industrial and technological expansion in the east of the country called Hefei.
The meeting was initially scheduled to take place in Brussels. However, plans changed, and the European side yielded to the refusal of the Chinese supreme leader, Xi Jinping, to travel to the European capital. EU officials who have been organizing this summit for months acknowledge being frustrated by the "sudden apathy" of the Chinese authorities, who even skipped some of the usual preliminary meetings that are crucial for closing the agreements signed at these events.
European sources ensure that there will probably not be a joint generic statement after the meeting of European leaders with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Qiang. However, both parties have tried to coordinate to at least release some statement on specific issues such as the fight against climate change. The negotiations, European officials reiterate, have been very intense because in Beijing, after "subduing" Trump, whom they ended up forcing to sign a truce in the trade war, they see themselves as very strong and have tried to do the same with Brussels.
Xi started with a very conciliatory tone but delivering several messages during the meeting with Von der Leyen and Costa. "Amid an unprecedented accelerated transformation in a century and an international landscape plagued by turbulence and transformations, China and Europe must demonstrate greater responsibility by making the right strategic decisions that meet people's expectations," stated the Chinese leader, emphasizing the importance of Beijing and Brussels, currently under a "critical historical juncture," strengthening their relationship by setting aside differences and seeking more common ground.
"China and Europe must strengthen mutual trust and deepen cooperation, providing the world with more stability and certainty through a stable and healthy relationship," Xi continued.
In her opening speech, Von der Leyen was more realistic in describing the bilateral relationship as being at a "turning point" and highlighting the significant trade imbalances. "Rebalancing our bilateral relationship is essential. Because for relationships to be sustainable, they must be mutually beneficial," declared the German leader.
Costa's intervention focused more on cooperation in climate change, the area where Brussels and Beijing clash the least. The Portuguese leader emphasized the need for both parties to send a strong joint political message before the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference, to be held in November in Brazil.
Some European diplomats based in the Chinese capital emphasize that in recent months, the EU has been caught between its eagerness to reach a trade agreement with the United States and the need to maintain stable ties with China despite the current confrontation and the huge trade imbalance, which amounted to over 350 billion euros last year.
Relations between Beijing and Brussels deteriorated mainly after Chinese restrictions on the exports of much-needed rare earth minerals, essential for the technological industry. The Asian superpower almost monopolizes their processing. The winning card of stockpiling these critical minerals, which China already played to achieve a trade truce with Washington, is also being used in its back-and-forth with Europe, which has disrupted the production lines of many European manufacturers dependent on these minerals.
During a G-7 leaders' meeting in Canada in June, Von der Leyen accused China of creating a pattern of "dominance, dependence, and blackmail" by controlling the supply of rare earths, a matter that has been crucial in this summit. Trade disputes are the main friction between both parties, with the European bloc accusing Beijing of harming its industries by introducing subsidized products from the Xi Jinping government into its markets and continuing to force a steadily increasing trade deficit.
In addition to economic issues, Brussels' more confrontational stance towards Beijing is closely related to the alignment of Xi's regime with Vladimir Putin's. Just a week ago, the Chinese leader reaffirmed his support for Moscow during a visit to China by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
"The way China continues to interact with Putin's war will be a determining factor for future relations between the EU and China," Von der Leyen stated this month, recalling reports that Beijing is a "decisive facilitator" of the Russian invasion of Ukraine by selling dual-use technologies to Moscow used in the war. "Von der Leyen is desperately looking for a scapegoat for the EU's failed policy in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. China will not allow Von der Leyen, or anyone else, to dictate its foreign policy," responded the media outlets of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Both publicly and privately, the President of the European Commission has unsuccessfully asked Xi Jinping to intervene with Putin to end the war. For Brussels, the reported cooperation between Chinese and Russian companies benefiting Putin's war machinery, bypassing Western sanctions, is a key point of contention every time Chinese and European officials sit down to negotiate.
This Thursday, Reuters revealed that engines manufactured in China are being covertly shipped through front companies, labeled as "industrial cooling units," to a Russian state-owned drone manufacturer. Last Friday, the EU announced that it had sanctioned two Chinese banks and five companies for the first time as part of its latest measures against Moscow.
In recent days, editorials in Chinese state newspapers have tried to lower tensions. "After 50 years of development, relations between China and the EU have become one of the most influential bilateral partnerships in the world, generating prosperity for nearly two billion people, establishing a cooperation model in the globalized era, and significantly contributing to global peace and development," stated the state-run Xinhua news agency. "China and the EU naturally differ in social systems, cultures, and levels of development; therefore, differences should not be considered grounds for enmity or lead to confrontation," noted the Global Times newspaper.
In private, Chinese officials (very upset with the EU since, in 2019, a more assertive official stance was adopted, labeling the Asian country as a "systemic rival") acknowledge that they are aware that the divisions within the bloc regarding the strategy to follow with China have benefited them, but they were expecting a closer approach after the fracture caused by Trump in recent months. It was supposed that the American's noisy return would help build new bridges between Brussels and Beijing. However, this perspective vanished when trade frictions and Chinese support for the Russians resurfaced as contentious issues.
In Beijing, they have continued to press for Brussels to lift the tariffs imposed last year of up to 45.3% on Chinese electric vehicles. But European officials, on their part, reproach that China still does not buy enough from Europe to balance the huge trade deficit. The latest data shows that, in the first half of this year, Chinese exports to the EU grew by 7%, while imports from the bloc fell by 6%. The imbalance continues to worsen.