“At the same time, we expect from China to take us more seriously and stop looking at us through the lens of its relations with others. Our assessment and conduct is driven by our own interests,” Borrell said.

His comments reflect a frustration in Europe that Beijing does not accept that the union has come to its own conclusions on China as relations worsen.

Will autumn visit be third time lucky for Borrell’s China-EU ties talks?

China’s state media often portrays the EU as a “puppet” of the US, but Borrell insisted that the “war in Ukraine has transformed us … from the position of an economic power to a geopolitical one, taking its strategic responsibilities very seriously”.

The EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, is due to arrive in Shanghai amid turmoil in the Middle East, war in Ukraine, and heightened tensions between the US and China.

He travelled on the eve of China’s Belt and Road Summit, a significant event in China’s diplomatic calendar, which is expected to be attended by a single EU leader, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Borrell will meet business figures and Chinese academics at the Shanghai Institutes For International Studies, a think tank linked to the foreign ministry, before flying to the Chinese capital for talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday and to give a speech at Peking University.

02:36

French and EU leaders urge China to ‘bring Russia to its senses’ and stop invasion of Ukraine

French and EU leaders urge China to ‘bring Russia to its senses’ and stop invasion of Ukraine

“There are also regional issues on which we can try to work together, including the Middle East, where the current violence in the Israel-Palestine conflict threatens the stability of the whole region,” Borrell told the Post.

China has refrained from condemning Hamas’ attack on Israel, but has expressed sorrow at civilian losses. So far at least 2,100 people have been killed on both sides.

“We’re deeply saddened by the civilian casualties and oppose and condemn acts that harm civilians … we oppose moves that escalate the conflict and destabilise the region and hope fighting will stop and peace will return soon,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Monday.

As China-EU ‘de-risking’ voices crescendo, why the focus on electric cars?

European officials have regularly criticised Chinese spokespeople and state media for parroting Moscow’s talking points.

“Being neutral in such a case is just like watching on the sidelines as the fox enters the henhouse and waiting for the outcome.”

Borrell described China’s involvement in a peace conference Saudi Arabia hosted in Jeddah in August as a “good step”, but said “China can certainly do more, including in its engagement on the peace formula put forward by Ukraine” and warned “a lot remains to be done to convince Ukraine that China is not on Russia’s side”.

Borrell said he understands why China does not adopt the same position as Europe, even as he cautioned it not to “endorse the Russian position”.

“We are not expecting China to take the European line. We know the Chinese calculations and constraints behind this conflict and their tendency to look at it through the lens of its competition with the US,” he said.

Borrell’s trip to China is part of a series of visits by senior EU commissioners responsible for areas such as trade, digital affairs, energy and the environment. The cumulative goal is to lay the ground for a leaders’ summit before the year’s end, although no date has been set.

But the visits are also a chance to tell the Chinese leadership that the EU is unhappy with the current state of the relationship and intends to pursue a narrow form of de-risking, even if it has no intention of cutting ties with China completely.

A series of commissioners have floated the prospect of a probe into subsidies in China’s wind turbine sector, but senior officials denied that there was anything imminent on that front.

“We are concerned by our trade imbalances, which are rapidly growing. Our massive trade deficit with China cannot be the mere product of a competitive disadvantage between the EU and China. It has to do with persistent market access problems encountered by European firms in China,” said Borrell.

“The crux of the matter is that China is becoming less attractive. European firms can no longer send as many expatriates to China. We also care about the reaction of our public’s opinion, considering the potential losses of jobs in critical sectors such as the automotives … In a democratic system such as the European one, you cannot ignore what voters think,” he added.

Asked about tensions in the Taiwan Strait, Borrell said that the EU remained “fully committed to its one-China policy”, which he said is based on six principles including no formal recognition of the island as an independent state and no “intimidation, coercion and provocation from any side”.

However, within that, Europe retained the right to nurture bilateral ties with Taiwan, “which do not imply any kind of political recognition as an independent country”.