China relations slide down crisis-hit agenda for EU leaders summit

A call for urgent action to toughen stance towards Beijing is likely to take a back seat to Europe’s numerous other problems in 2-day meetings

Challenge to find space for discussion also signals distance between official advice and how far member states are prepared to go in policy shift

Reading Time:3 minutes

EU leaders are meeting in Brussels but are unlikely to have the “substantial” discussion on China recommended by the bloc’s foreign service officials. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 12:30pm, 20 Oct 2022Updated: 9:02pm, 26 Oct 2022

China will be on the agenda for the first time in 12 months as European leaders meet in Brussels on Thursday for two days of crunch talks.

But even after an internal memo by the EU’s foreign service called for urgent action to toughen the bloc’s stance towards Beijing, a litany of other crises means its worsening relations with China will take a back seat.

The EU’s deteriorating energy crisis, its military and financial backing for Ukraine, and the emergence of Iran as a provider of military drones to Russia will take centre stage at October’s European Council summit.

It means that while diplomats and officials wanted the 27 leaders to have a “substantial” discussion on China, they are unlikely to dive deeply into the litany of issues that have emerged since October last year.

“Since last year we have seen developments both in the internal situation [in China] but externally too. I think we are entering a new world, and that needs to be factored in,” said a senior EU official involved in the meetings’ planning.

At a meeting in Luxembourg on Monday, the EU’s foreign ministers confirmed their support for the China memo, written by the bloc’s External Action Service (EEAS).