EU looks for trade action on China in trimmed down summit with Xi Jinping

Name: China’s most-senior diplomats, Wang and Yang, conclude back-to-back visits to Europe
Uploaded: 2020-09-07T14:00:11.000Z
Duration: 4 min 45 s
Description: China’s most-senior diplomats, Wang and Yang, conclude back-to-back visits to Europe

‘Last chance’ for Chinese president to win over European bloc ahead of November’s US election

Virtual meeting will take place on same day as postponed Leipzig meeting between Xi and 27 member states

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Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold a virtual summit with three European Union leaders next week. Photo: Xinhua

Stuart Lau

Published: 10:00pm, 7 Sep 2020Updated: 8:14am, 8 Sep 2020

Chinese President Xi Jinping will be trying to win hearts and minds in Europe ahead of the US election in November, with a virtual summit next week to be hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the South China Morning Post has learned.

The leader of Germany, which currently holds the rotating European Union council presidency, will be joined at the meeting on Monday by Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen, presidents of the European Council and European Commission, respectively. Other key players, such as French President Emmanuel Macron – who rolled out the red carpet for Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi last month – will not attend, despite earlier reports that he was to be invited.

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China’s most-senior diplomats, Wang and Yang, conclude back-to-back visits to Europe

“This will be the last chance for China to try to win Europe’s heart with real, concrete action before a possible [Joe] Biden victory that will undoubtedly strengthen transatlantic ties,” an EU official said, on condition of anonymity.

Trade will be the focus for the extraordinary summit, to be held on the date originally intended for a gathering of all 27 EU heads of government in Leipzig for a face-to-face meeting with Xi, which was derailed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Two EU sources said the stripped-down meeting was not a replacement for the planned “27+1” meeting, which could still take place before the end of the year, despite the diplomatic stand-off between at least two member countries and Beijing.

A visit to Taiwan last week by Czech senate president Milos Vystrcil was condemned by Beijing, which demanded immediate corrective measures from Prague. Czech President Milos Zeman, who has sought closer business ties with China, downplayed the visit as “boyish provocation”, while some companies reported cancellations of Chinese contracts.

Sweden, meanwhile, continues to have frosty relations with Beijing over the continued incarceration of bookseller Gui Minhai, a Swedish passport holder. Stockholm has also previously called for EU-wide sanctions on China over the introduction of its national security law in Hong Kong.