EU-China summit: Brussels ratchets up pressure on Beijing over trade and Russia’s war on Ukraine
- Brussels confronts Beijing with details of Chinese companies selling European-made, dual-use products to Moscow
- Ursula von der Leyen calls on China to use ‘all of its influence on Russia to stop this war of aggression’
The European Union pushed China’s leadership to stop its firms from selling sanctioned goods to the Russian military on Thursday, a key demand made during the first in-person meeting between the two sides in four years.
Brussels officials confronted their counterparts with details of Chinese companies who are selling European-made, dual-use products – those with commercial and military applications – to Moscow, thereby circumventing sweeping sanctions designed to hobble Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.
European Council President Charles Michel, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other EU leaders used rare face-time with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang to force the issue, with a veiled warning that its members will not look favourably on a failure to act.
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“We have identified a list of companies which are suspected to play a role in circumventing sanctions and we had the occasion to make clear both in preparation for this summit but also during the summit,” said Michel.
“We hope today we are heard and then the appropriate action will be taken by China,” Michel said at a press conference in Beijing, adding that “member states will have to decide what further action will be done”.
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These sales to Russia were among a series of thorny issues covered during a day of talks that ran the full gambit of EU-China relations. As has become customary, Michel and von der Leyen pressed their hosts to do more to help end the war in Ukraine.
“We recalled the need for China to use all of its influence on Russia to stop this war of aggression and to engage in Ukraine’s peace formula,” von der Leyen said.
“We also reiterated to refrain from supplying lethal equipment to Russia and to prevent any attempts by Russia to undermine the impact of sanctions.”
Areas of cooperation: AI and climate change
At the same time, they left the door open for cooperation in areas including governance of artificial intelligence and climate change.
On this front, EU officials welcomed China’s signing of a pledge on methane emissions at the ongoing COP 28 summit, but also asked Beijing to do more to shutter coal-fired plants.
“China has started its global AI governance initiative and the EU is right now finalising its first AI Act to ensure that AI complies with our fundamental rights and our values,” von der Leyen said.
“So even if our governance models are different, we agreed that we should seek to cooperate on artificial intelligence at the global level.”
Belt and road disruption
“As the saying goes, when you give roses to others, the fragrance lingers on your hand,” Xi said.
“China will continue to promote high-quality belt and road cooperation, including by creating synergy between the BRI with the EU’s Global Gateway to help developing countries grow faster.”
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The Chinese leader pressed the EU to “increase understanding and properly handle differences through constructive dialogue”, according to an official readout.
“We should not view each other as rivals just because our systems are different, reduce cooperation because competition exists, or engage in confrontation because there are disagreements,” Xi said.
EU fears of unfair competition
Noting a shared responsibility to work on global issues, Xi “pointed out that the world today is undergoing major changes unseen in a century” - echoing famous remarks made to Russian leader Vladimir Putin when he visited Moscow in March.
The European side, on the other hand, railed against what it sees as unfair competition emanating from China.
“We insist on fair competition within the single market, therefore, we also insist on fair competition from companies that come to our single market, and I’m glad that we agreed with President Xi that trade should be balanced between the two of us.”
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“I want to be very clear here to Europe does not want to decouple from China,” von der Leyen said. “We have seen a decoupling Europe from Russia for good reasons. We do not want a decoupling from China. What we want is de-risking.”
“Graphite is fundamental for the defence industry,” he said. “China has decided to limit the export of graphite, and this has consequences for our sovereignty and strategic autonomy.
“This example shows what’s at stake in the EU - we must better protect our interests.”
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Europe’s low expectations for the summit
In Europe, expectations were low ahead of the first in-person summit since 2019.
For some, the fact of having a summit was a deliverable in itself, while the EU rejected the opportunity to sign a string of technical agreements that had been negotiated during eight ministerial visits to China this year.
The sides agreed to restart a “people to people dialogue” - something Beijing had been requesting for a number of years, even during the lockdowns of Covid.
But largely, Brussels preferred a “political summit”, a senior official said ahead of the event, and would leave the narrow deals for more junior officials to sign.
A draft agenda seen by the Post contained no mention of prickly matters like Taiwan or human rights, but EU leaders raised both.
“We are opposed to any unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force. The EU maintains its one China policy and I trust that China is fully aware of the serious consequences of any escalation in this area,” Michel told reporters.
The Belgian said he had raised “human rights violations in Xinjiang and Tibet”, and praised China for reconvening an annual dialogue on the topic in February. This was despite protestations from activists that the dialogue was “meaningless”.
“The EU’s human rights dialogue with the Chinese government has become a meaningless tick-the-box exercise,” said Human Rights Watch chief Tirana Hassan in a briefing before the summit.
“When it comes to human rights, the level of EU action and ambition does not match the urgency or magnitude of the threats posed by the Chinese government.”
