The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, will travel to Beijing on 1 December where he will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Leqiang and the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, Li Zhanshu.
The EU heads of state or government have given Mr Michel a clear mandate on the direction policy towards China should take, according to a senior European official. The meeting will be about engaging with China at a time when it is crucial that the country does not allow sanctions on Russia to be circumvented and does not supply it with weapons.
Above all, the EU considers that it cannot tackle global challenges without China, as the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, reminded MEPs on 22 November (see EUROPE 13069/11). Climate change is the most obvious topic in this context, but also the fight against Covid-19, for example.
It is also in the EU’s interest to defuse the conflict between Beijing and the island of Taiwan, and Charles Michel is expected to tell his Chinese interlocutors that “the use of force is in no way justified in this conflict”, according to a senior European official. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)